FM meets financial sector regulators to seek budget inputs

New Delhi, Jan 21 (PTI) Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjeetoday discussed the economic situation with financial sectorregulators, including Reserve Bank of India Governor and Sebichief, and sought their inputs for the 2011-12 budget thatwill be unveiled on February 28.

This was the second meeting of the high-level FinancialStability and Development Council (FSDC) within a month. Thefirst meeting was held on December 31, 2010.

"The RBI policy is scheduled on January 25. As a standardpractice I have come to review the macroeconomic situationwith the Finance Minister", RBI Governor S Subbarao toldreporters after the meeting.

The Central Bank is scheduled to hold the quarterlyreview of its monetary policy later this month in which it iswidely expected to raise the key rates by 25-50 basis pointsto tame inflation that has shot up to 8.43 per cent inDecember, from 7.48 a month ago.

Besides, Subbarao and officials of the Finance Ministry,the meeting was attended by Securities and Exchange Board ofIndia (SEBI) chairman C B Bhave, Insurance Regulatory andDevelopment Authority (IRDA) chief J Hari Narayan and PensionFund Regulatory and Development Authority (PFRDA) chairmanYogesh Agarwal.

Mukherjee, sources said, also sought inputs of theregulators on the budget with a view to improving andstrengthening the financial sector and pushing the economy onthe double-digit growth path.

The proposal to set up FSDC to resolve the inter-regulatory issues was mooted by Mukherjee in his budget speechlast year.

The high-level body is expected to deal with issuesconcerning financial stability, financial sector development,financial literacy, financial inclusion and macro-prudentialsupervision of the economy, including the functioning of largefinancial conglomerates.

Besides, the Council will also coordinate the country''sinternational interface with financial sector bodies such asthe Financial Action Task Force (FATF) and Financial StabilityBoard (FSB).