RBI Releases Board Meeting Minutes For The First Time To Improve Transparency

In an effort to improve transparency in its operations, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) for the first time released the minutes of its board meeting. Earlier, this was only available in response to queries under the Right to Information (RTI) Act.

On Monday, the central board disclosed the minutes to its 579th central board meeting held on 11 October 2020.

"In future, the minutes will be placed on the RBI website within two weeks from the date of its confirmation in the next meeting of the Central Board and on being signed by the chairman in the same meeting," it said on 20 January.

The minutes showed that the board of RBI discussed issues such as the liquidity situation and credit flow from banks and NBFCs to the economy.

There was also a discussion on the Punjab and Maharashtra Cooperative (PMC) Bank case and the regulatory supervision of commercial and cooperative banks, which were not part of the earlier set agenda.

Issues relating to financial markets, the impact of monsoon on the agricultural sector and prices were also discussed.

The minutes showed that one of the directors presented his perspective on industries of automobiles, real estate, steel, power and road transport.

There were four places where the minutes were blacked out, which the RBI said it did so in accordance with rules that permit severing certain information under the RTI Act.