OREANDA-NEWS. March 5, 2011. The customary post-Budget meeting of the Central Board of the Reserve Bank of India with the Finance Minister was held in New Delhi today. Besides Dr. D. Subbarao, Governor of the Reserve Bank, Smt. Shyamala Gopinath, Dr. K.C. Chakrabarty, Dr. Subir Gokarn and Shri Anand Sinha, Deputy Governors of the Reserve Bank attended the meeting. The meeting was also attended by Shri S. S.Palanimanickam, Minister of State (Revenue), Shri Namo Narain Meena, Minister of State (Expenditure, Banking and Insurance), Smt. Sushma Nath, Finance Secretary and Secretary (Expenditure), Shri R. Gopalan, Secretary, Economic Affairs and Government nominee director on the Central Board, Shri S. K. Sharma, Secretary, Financial Services, Shri Sunil Mitra, Secretary, Revenue, Shri Sumit Bose, Secretary, Disinvestment and Dr. Kaushik Basu, Chief Economic Advisor.

The other Directors of the Central Board of the Reserve Bank of India present at the meeting included  Shri Y. H. Malegam, Prof. Suresh D. Tendulkar , Prof. U.R.Rao, Shri Lakshmi Chand, Shri H. P. Ranina, Shri Azim Premji, Shri Kumar Mangalam Birla, Smt. Shashi Rajagopalan, Dr. A. Vaidyanathan and Prof. Man Mohan Sharma.

Shri Pranab Mukherjee, Hon’ble Finance Minister apprised the Board of the major policy concerns and proposals made in the Union Budget having a bearing on the Reserve Bank of India.  He explained the nuances of the Budget and stressed the need for sustaining post-crisis economic recovery and growth momentum, while keeping inflation in check against the uncertainty of oil price rise.  This was essential for furthering the Government’s agenda on inclusive development.  He expressed confidence that the monetary policy measures taken by the Reserve Bank of India and the Government’s efforts in removing structural constraints in food economy would help manage inflation. The Hon’ble Finance Minister said that financial inclusion was a key element for sustainable inclusive growth and appreciated the fact that the Reserve Bank of India was in the forefront of the initiatives taken in this regard.

The Governor complimented the Finance Minister for attempting such a significant fiscal correction without recourse to one-off revenue measures. He also reiterated the need to focus on qualitative aspects apart from quantitative aspects of expenditure reduction.

The Directors welcomed the focus of the Budget on inclusive development and offered several suggestions. The Finance Minister assured to have them examined.