New governor Shaktikanta Das to chair his first RBI board meeting today

New Delhi, Dec 14: New Reserve Bank of India (RBI) Governor Shaktikanta Das will chair his first bank board meeting on Friday. The directors of the board are likely to push for many decisions of the central bank when they meet.

The meeting will review the progress with respect of some of the decisions taken in the last meet on November 19. Among other things, the crucial board meeting is expected to take a stock of Micro, Small & Medium Enterprises (MSMEs), which is under stress due to demonetisation and implementation of the Goods and Services Tax (GST).

This schedule meeting comes in the backdrop of surprise resignation by Urjit Patel earlier this week citing personal reasons. However, the tussle between the Finance Ministry and RBI was attributed as reason for the sudden exit of Patel, who would have completed his 3-year term in September 2019.

Shaktikanta Das, who will be heading the board meeting on his third day as the RBI governor, had vowed to maintain the core values and autonomy of the central bank, while also maintaining that the government is more than just a stakeholder.

In the last RBI board meeting, efforts were made to reach a middle ground on contentious issues between the government and the RBI. The board decided to constitute an expert committee to examine the Economic Capital Framework of the RBI.

The government wanted Rs 3.6 lakh crore from the RBI's reserves but the central bank under Urjit Patel reportedly refused.