RBI At 90: Nirmala Sitharaman Lauds Institutional Integrity As It Stands Tall Among Peers
Sitharaman was talking at the RBI @90 event in Mumbai on Monday, where Prime Minister Narendra Modi was also present.
The Reserve Bank of India stands tall among its central bank peers, said Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman while referring to its efforts to maintain financial stability.
"RBI has had a remarkable checkered history. It stands tall among its peers on several accounts," she said.
Sitharaman was talking at the RBI@90 event in Mumbai on Monday, where Prime Minister Narendra Modi was also present.
Appreciating the central bank's work during a crisis, the minister said that optimism building is one of the beautiful functions done by the central bank.
"Institutional integrity of RBI needs a big applause in RBI's 90th anniversary," she said.
Referring to RBI's "remarkable checkered history," the minister said that the central bank has adopted both conventional and unconventional ways to ensure financial stability, even during Covid-19, a once in a life-time tragedy.
"Two examples that can stand as a classic example are moratorium on loan repayments and liquidity infusion which happened during that time," she said.
The central bank has also been one of the earliest to recognise the non-transient nature of inflation, at a time when the problem has gripped many economies, she said.
"The collaborative effort of the government and RBI in asset quality management and prompt corrective action framework, have been a success," Sitharaman said.
"... One of the few central banks, if I may say so, to front-load policy rate hikes, in particular... In the past few years, India's capacity to manage and take care of external imbalances and uncertainties have significantly improved, purely because of professional management of RBI," she said.
Under RBI's watch Rupee has also exhibited lower volatility. Further, the stability in G-Sec markets have contributed to investor confidence in the Indian economy, Sitharaman said.
"With collaborative effort of the government of India and RBI, the asset quality management, prompt corrective action framework, are all great functions, well carried out by RBI," the minister said.