Photographs

The Central Board of Directors of the Reserve Bank of India met today at Mussoorie, Uttarakhand. Dr. D. Subbarao, Governor, Reserve Bank of India chaired the meeting. Directors Dr. Anil Kakodkar, Shri Kiran S. Karnik, Shri M.V.Rajeev Gowda, Shri Y.H.Malegam, Dr. Indira Rajaraman and Dr. Najeeb Jung, as also, Government nominee director on the Central Board Shri D. K. Mittal, Secretary, Financial Services attended the meeting. Deputy Governors Dr. K.C.Chakrabarty, Dr. Subir Gokarn, Shri Anand Sinha and Shri Harun R. Khan were also present. The Board reviewed the current economic situation and global and domestic challenges and policy responses.

The Central Board meets at least once every quarter. Apart from holding meetings in Mumbai, Chennai, Kolkata and one in New Delhi after the Union Budget which is addressed by the Finance Minister, the rest of the meetings are held in other state capitals by rotation. The main function of the Central Board of Directors of the Reserve Bank is to provide overall direction to the Reserve Bank’s affairs.

After the Central Board meeting, the Governor also met local bankers and State Government officials, led by the Finance Minster of Uttarakhand, Dr. Smt. Indira Hridayesh. The decisions taken during the meeting included:

• Keeping in view the skewed distribution of bank branches in hilly areas, the Governor requested the State Government and the banks to prepare an action plan to improve banking penetration, especially in hilly areas. He assured that if there are any hurdles in terms of regulatory dispensation in achieving the objective of financial inclusion, the Reserve Bank would consider them sympathetically.

• The State Government, banks, NABARD and SIDBI agreed to prepare an annual action plan, beginning July 2012 with quarterly milestones to be achieved, to increase the CD ratio in five districts in a period of one year to around 35 per cent.

• Banks would meet their branch managers along with SIDBI to explore the possibilities of increasing credit flow to small and micro enterprises (SME) sector, they being the main drivers of growth.

• The Governor requested the state Government to consider including financial literacy as part of school curriculum.

Earlier on May 23, 2012, the Governor met the Chief Minister of Uttarakhand Shri Vijay Bahuguna at his Secretariat, Dehradun and discussed issues relating to growth and development of the state.

Dr. D. Subbarao, Governor also met the industry representatives from Uttarakhand in Dehradun Office of the Reserve Bank and discussed issues, such as, adopting one common application form for bank loans to micro and small enterprises (MSE), rehabilitation of sick industries, relief/ benefits of credit rating of SMES, setting up market intelligence cell to support state level industries association, and lending to MSME by private banks.

R. R. Sinha
Deputy General Manager

Press Release : 2011-2012/1872