Safety most important in managing forex reserves says RBI Deputy Governor Rohit Jain

Mumbai: Safety of foreign exchange reserves is the most important consideration before the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) because reserves are ultimately borrowed funds which have to be handled very carefully, deputy governor Rohit Jain said. Return should not be the only consideration when deploying these reserves and that is why a lot of care is taken to deploy these funds.

Jain who as deputy governor is responsible for departments of external investments, foreign exchange and risk management among others said in response to a question by State Bank of India (SBI) managing director Ravi Ranjan at the SBI Banking and Economics Conclave.

Read more: India's forex reserves drop $4.92 billion to $780.78 billion as of September 11


“We track market variables and parameters very closely. We keep on the lookout for better opportunities. The principal considerations in managing forex reserves are three, safety, liquidity and return. All three are important but the order is also important. Safety, liquidity and return (in that order). Because these are borrowed funds, these forex reserves have to be handled very carefully,” Jain said. He pointed that the latest foreign exchange reserves at $781 billion is the highest ever reserves the country has ever had and is the fifth largest in the world.

“Return should not be the only consideration when deploying these reserves and that is why a lot of care is taken. Very clear objective frameworks are laid out and we manage these reserves with the intent that they provide very strong external resilience for the country and foreign investors and foreign counterparties have the confidence that the country has enough forex reserves to support its needs,” Jain said in an elaborate reply on how the regulator will manage the $133 billion received through the FCNR (B) scheme.

Read more: RBI revises FCNR(B) inflows upwards to USD 133 billion after robust response from NRIs

Later speaking to reporters on the sidelines of the conference Jaina said in the meeting with the regulator, banks have expressed confidence that the new funds due to the FCNR (B) inflows will be absorbed. “Banks will take their own call based on credit demand which is fairly broad based. There is no concern on the deployment of the deposits,” Jain said.

Replying to another question on state governments increasingly resorting to market borrowings for financing their gross fiscal deficit, Jain said that the RBI has been telling states to do more reissuances so that the secondary market activity develops which state governments have been complying with.

“We have also focused on a benchmark issuance strategy which we have been doing for the central government. We are now asking state governments also to adopt a benchmark issuance strategy and so far 19 states have already adopted this new strategy. The remaining states are also likely to join in shortly. This will greatly improve the liquidity and the secondary market in the state government security and I believe that we will be able to manage these state government borrowings much better,” Jain said.

In his speech at the conference, Jain said that financial institutions must develop the institutional capacity to identify technology vulnerabilities early, make informed decisions, limit the impact of disruptions, protect customers and recover critical services. “Technology investment should be treated also as a risk investment – it is an investment in continuity, confidence and financial stability. Scale in digital payments and financial services must not come at the expense of trust and resilience. AI is expected to fundamentally change financial services – but governance must precede scale,” Jain said.