RBI Guv has frank talks with PSU banks' CEOs

New Delhi: Ahead of the monetary policy review, Reserve Bank of India Governor Shaktikanta Das Monday met heads of public sector banks and conveyed to them the regulator's expectation from the banking sector.

RBI is scheduled to announce its sixth bi-monthly monetary policy for 2018-19 on February 7. It would be the first monetary review under the new RBI Governor.

"Basically the idea was convey to them the regulator's expectation from the banking sector in general and public sector banks in particular, and also to get from them their understanding of the current banking situation, and to get an understanding about the future outlook, the sense they have," Das said after meeting CEOs of PSU banks.

It is widely expected that RBI would cut interest rate in its upcoming review meeting.

With softer retail and wholesale price-based inflation, the Reserve Bank is likely to change its policy stance to 'neutral' from 'calibrated tightening' in the February policy.

The inflation based on the Consumer Price Index (CPI) eased to an 18-month low of 2.19 per cent in December compared to 2.33 per cent in November and 5.21 per cent in December 2017. The Wholesale Price Index (WPI)-based inflation also eased to an eight-month low of 3.80 per cent in December as against 4.64 per cent in November and 3.58 per cent in December 2017.

Reserve Bank governor Shaktikanta Das will meet top global funds in Singapore and Hong Kong next month to sell India's growth story and shore up foreign fund inflows, people with direct knowledge of the matter told The Economic Times.

The closed-door meeting, perhaps the first of its kind, is likely to take place in the second or third week of February with an expected 40-50 participants, including executives from GIC, Temasek, Aberdeen Asset Management, Prudential Plc (UK), Eastspring Investments, Nomura, Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley. The huddles come amid growing expectations that RBI will ease investment rules for foreign portfolio investors.

The governor, who took charge on December 12, is expected to convey RBI's monetary policy stance and brief investors on India's macroeconomic conditions, the people said. This will be followed by question-and-answer sessions, they said. The objective is to find out what stops global investors from bringing in long-term money into the world's fastest-growing major economy.