Parliamentary panel asks Patel to respond on RBI autonomy, reserves
Patel appeared before the 31-member panel headed by Congress leader M. Veerappa Moily on Tuesday to brief on the impact of demonetisation, non-performing assets (NPAs) of public sector banks and state of economy, among other issues. The RBI Governor said the banking regulator will consider the international practice in terms of reserves kept by central banks and will share its views in its response. The government believes RBI is sitting on extra reserves which can be used to fuel growth. While Patel maintained there was no conflict with the central government, the source said he warned the panel members, which included former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, of the possibility of global trade war leading to a currency war.On domestic economy, Patel is learnt to have said that the Indian economy is stabilising and is in a comfortable position with positive indicators like rising GDP, falling crude oil prices, credit growth up 15 per cent, inflation down and food inflation below 2 per cent."Patel said for every single dollar drop in crude oil price, there is a fall of $800 million in the country's current account deficit (CAD) annually. You can calculate the overall benefit in terms of CAD for the more than $20 decline in oil price," he said.
--IANS mgu/vsc/bg