Shaktikanta Das plans to take middle path

MUMBAI: The newly appointed RBI governor Shaktikanta Das on Wednesday vowed to uphold the core values and autonomy of the central bank, but also underpinned the need for a wider consultation with various stakeholders including ‘free, fair and frank’ discussion with the government.

He also informed that the Reserve Bank would hold its board meeting on coming Friday as planned and all the issues listed for the meeting would be discussed.

“I will try and uphold professionalism, core values, credibility and autonomy of this institution,” he said.

While addressing the media after assuming office within just two days after Urjit Patel stepped down, Mr Das reminded that the government is not just a stakeholder, but runs the country, economy and manages major policy decisions.

“We have to have consultation with everybody. There has to be very free, fair and very frank discussion between the government and the RBI. I would like to believe that all issues howsoever contentious it may be, can be resolved through discussions,” he added.

Besides keeping inflation under control, the new governor said improving the health of the public sector banks, ensuring enough liquidity to support the growth trajectory would be some of the key focus areas for the central bank.

The governor has already convened a meeting of the MDs and CEOs of public sector banks based out of Mumbai on Thursday to discuss various issues concerning them. This will be followed by another meeting with the heads of PSBs locate outside Mumbai and a separate meeting with the representatives of private sector banks. “Consultations with various stakeholders is important as it always adds values to our understanding of the issues,” he added.