RBI Governor will give his views on finance to parliamentary committee

RBI Governor Urjit Patel on Tuesday committed to a parliamentary committee to give in writing his views on some of the controversial issues, which may include the government citing its never-used powers to get the central bank on the discussion table, said sources.

Mr. Patel, who appeared before the 31-member Parliamentary Standing Committee on Finance, said the economy would get a boost from oil prices cooling off from four-year highs. He highlighted that fundamentals were “robust”, the sources said.

Mr. Patel also told the panel that credit growth was 15 per cent and the impact of the November 2016 demonetisation had a transient impact on the economy.

He, however, did not answer specific questions on the government invoking Section 7 of the RBI Act, NPAs (non-performing assets), the autonomy of the central bank and other contentious issues, the sources said.

Mr. Patel made a presentation on the state of the economy as well about the world economy to the committee and several members asked questions. His views on the economy were “optimistic”. “He stayed clear of controversial questions like government invoking special powers, instead he gave intelligent replies without saying anything,” the sources said.

Members also asked questions on the implementation of the Basel III capital adequacy norms for banks. To this, a source said, he replied that adherence to the global norms was India’s commitment to G-20 nations.