Nirmala Sitharaman Likely to Chair All Financial Sector Regulators at FSDC Meeting on May 14, Will Review Economic Situation Amid Coronavirus Lockdown

Mumbai, May 11: With the coronavirus lockdown in place for more than 45 days and having a negative impact on the Indian economy, the Financial Stability and Development Council is most likely to meet on May 14. The meeting will be headed by Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman and the agenda of the video conference meeting would be to review the economic situation of India, which is falling flat.

According to a report, published in the CNBC TV18, all financial sector regulators will attend the FSDC meet. Since, all the sectors are feeling the pinch of coronavirus and suffering a hefty loss, discussions of steps to revive the Indian economy in a gradual way will be an agenda of the meeting. Despite Union Finance Ministry had announced a relief package of Rs 1.7 lakh crore, sectors are asking the government to contribute more. Finance Ministry Announces Relief for Overseas Indians: NRI Status Protected, No Need to File I-T Returns if Unable to Return Abroad.

Eminent economist and former Reserve Bank of India Governor Raghuram Rajan-led committee in 2008 had recommended the formation of FSDC, which came into existence in 2010. This committee has, since then been chaired by the Union Finance Minister, who takes a stock of economic situation after having a meeting with all financial sector regulators.

Recently, brokerage firm Nomura has slashed steeply its FY-2021 GDP forecast for India from -0.4 percent to -5.2 percent. Apart from this, Moody's Investors Service on Friday projected India's growth at zero per cent for the current fiscal and said the negative outlook on sovereign rating reflects increasing risks that GDP growth will remain significantly lower than in the past. India's GDP Growth For FY 2020-21 Likely to be at 0%, Economic Activity Will Pick Up Slowly, Predicts Moody's.

Also, Chief Economic Advisor (CEA) KV Subramanian in first week of May predicted the GDP growth in the first quarter (April to June) this fiscal is likely to range between one to two per cent due to COVID-19 led crisis. Meanwhile, Asian Development Bank (ADB) had approved USD 1.5 billion loan to India to help fund its fight against coronavirus pandemic.

As the crisis economic crisis prevailing in the India, Reserve Bank of India Governor Shaktikanta Das had given a free hand to banks to extend the three-month moratorium benefit on March 27 to the Non-Banking Finance Companies (NBFCs) is entirely up to banks. But, his predecessor Raghuram Rajan in a video talk with Congress leader Rahul Gandhi said that country needs Rs 65,000 crore to feed the poor. Rajan was of the opinion that India needs to be cleverer in lifting the lockdown as it has limited capacity to feed the poor

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on May 11, 2020 02:26 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).