Saturday, August 15, 2015

Srikrishna on the RBI and the IFC

You must read this interview Justice Srikrishna has given to the Economic Times.Here's what he has to say about the MPC and separation of public debt from the RBI:

Originally, there was a proposal that there will be a veto with the RBI governor. The government said a veto is not good. Originally, we had said the majority in the Monetary Policy Committee should be outsiders. The RBI objected, saying we should have a majority. So the government, after consulting the RBI, conceded ground and said, 'Let there be three Reserve Bank nominees including the governor, deputy governor and the one nominated by them'. So, the new thing has been accepted.

On public debt, the government says right now we don't have the capacity to deal with this issue, the Reserve Bank says, 'no we have to do this'. One by one things are being done. So, what is the controversy being generated? The government has no controversy, the Reserve Bank has no controversy and I see no scope for controversy. You chaps are creating the controversy.
Srikrishna is also worth quoting on RBI independence about which misconceptions abound:


Nobody is independent except the judiciary, for obvious reasons. Under the Constitution, the only independent body is the judiciary. Now, the RBI is merely putting into practice the policy to be pursued by the government in financial matters. It is of course undeniably an experts' advisory body and its advice has great weight. On recapitalisation of banks... the government has neither the time nor is it competent. So, the Reserve Bank looks at all such things as the exchange rate, inflation targeting, etc. The mandate is given to the RBI but the government may still disagree with it, unlike a Supreme Court judgement where it is bound by the decision.



 

Nobody is independent except the judiciary, for obvious reasons. Under the Constitution, the only independent body is the judiciary. Now, the RBI is merely putting into practice the policy to be pursued by the government in financial matters. It is of course undeniably an experts' advisory body and its advice has great weight. On recapitalisation of banks... the government has neither the time nor is it competent. So, the Reserve Bank looks at all such things as the exchange rate, inflation targ ..


Originally, there was a proposal that there will be a veto with the RBI governor. The government said a veto is not good. Originally, we had said the majority in the Monetary Policy Committee should be outsiders. The RBI objected, saying we should have a majority. So the government, after consulting the RBI, conceded ground and said, 'Let there be three Reserve Bank nominees including the governor, deputy governor and the one nominated by them'. So, the new thing has been accepted. On public d ..

Originally, there was a proposal that there will be a veto with the RBI governor. The government said a veto is not good. Originally, we had said the majority in the Monetary Policy Committee should be outsiders. The RBI objected, saying we should have a majority. So the government, after consulting the RBI, conceded ground and said, 'Let there be three Reserve Bank nominees including the governor, deputy governor and the one nominated by them'. So, the new thing has been accepted. On public d ..

Originally, there was a proposal that there will be a veto with the RBI governor. The government said a veto is not good. Originally, we had said the majority in the Monetary Policy Committee should be outsiders. The RBI objected, saying we should have a majority. So the government, after consulting the RBI, conceded ground and said, 'Let there be three Reserve Bank nominees including the governor, deputy governor and the one nominated by them'. So, the new thing has been accepted. On public  ..

Originally, there was a proposal that there will be a veto with the RBI governor. The government said a veto is not good. Originally, we had said the majority in the Monetary Policy Committee should be outsiders. The RBI objected, saying we should have a majority. So the government, after consulting the RBI, conceded ground and said, 'Let there be three Reserve Bank nominees including the governor, deputy governor and the one nominated by them'. So, the new thing has been accepted. On public  ..

Originally, there was a proposal that there will be a veto with the RBI governor. The government said a veto is not good. Originally, we had said the majority in the Monetary Policy Committee should be outsiders. The RBI objected, saying we should have a majority. So the government, after consulting the RBI, conceded ground and said, 'Let there be three Reserve Bank nominees including the governor, deputy governor and the one nominated by them'. So, the new thing has been accepted. On public  ..

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