RBI Board meets today at Kolkata

The Central Board of the Reserve Bank of India met today in Kolkata. The meeting reviewed key economic, monetary and financial developments.

Dr D. Subbarao, Governor, Reserve Bank of India chaired the meeting. Shri Ashok Chawla, Finance Secretary, Shri Y.H. Malegam, Prof. Suresh Tendulkar, Shri Lakshmi Chand, Shri H.P. Ranina, Shri Azim Premji, Smt. Shashi Rajagopalan, Shri Suresh Neotia, Dr. A. Vaidyanathan, Prof M. M. Sharma and Shri Sanjay Labroo were present at the meeting of the Central Board. Deputy Governors of the Reserve Bank, Smt. Shyamala Gopinath, Dr. K.C. Chakrabarty and Dr. Subir Gokarn were also present.

The Central Board of Directors of the Reserve Bank meets at least once every quarter. The Board schedules meetings in Mumbai, Chennai and Kolkata each year. The post-budget meeting of the Board, traditionally held in New Delhi, was held in Mumbai this year in view of the Platinum Jubilee of the Reserve Bank and was addressed by the Union Finance Minister. The other meetings of the Board are held in the remaining state capitals by rotation. The main function of the Central Board of the Reserve Bank is to provide overall direction to its affairs.

The day before the Board meeting, the Governor called on Shri Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee, the Chief Minister of West Bengal. Dr. Asim Dasgupta, Finance Minster was also present at the meeting. The issues discussed at the meeting included the need to improve the credit deposit ratio of West Bengal, access to credit to farmers through issue of more Kisan Cards and to no-frills account holders through General Credit Cards, higher credit flow to MSME sector including better utilisation of CGTS scheme and improvement in loan/savings ratio of SHGs. The Governor emphasised the need for proactive role of the State government as well as banks in meeting the objective of financial include nearly 7500 villages, the need for training the business correspondents and effective use of RSETIs. The issues were further discussed in detail in the meeting between the Reserve Bank top management and the State government officials and bankers held later. The Governor exhorted the bankers to improve their performance in these areas.

Ajit Prasad
Assistant General Manager

Press Release : 2010-2011/809