RBI board discusses economic situation but silent on loan restructuring

MUMBAI: The central board of the Reserve Bank of (RBI) discussed the current economic situation and the evolving challenges posed by the Covid 19 pandemic in its 583rd meeting on Friday.

In a release on its website RBI said that the board also discussed the central bank's activities during the July 2019 to June 2020 financial year and its the budget for the next accounting year starting July 2020 which will end in March 2021 to be aligned with the government’s financial year.

The RBI release was silent on whether banks' demand for one time restructuring of loans was discussed at all.

A person familiar with the meeting contents said it was not among the topics discussed.

"The governor said RBI measures have ensured that interest rates across the board have come down.
He also said the central bank has done whatever was possible till now," this person said.

One of the directors asked how forex reserves would be used to which the governor and deputy governors said it would depend on how industry and imports pick up.
The proposal for one time restructuring was not discussed.

Expectations that the restructuring of loans will be discussed at the RBI board meet rose after finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman said that the government is talking to RBI to allows banks for a one time restructuring of loans due to the distress caused by the Covid 19 pandemic.

“We are definitely talking with RBI to see if one-time restructuring can be offered also looking at characterization of a company as stressed, not stressed…,” Sitharaman said at an industry interaction on Thursday.

The post board meeting release of the central bank just said that "other policy and operational matters" were discussed without elaborating.

The meeting was chaired by governor Shaktikanta Das through a video conference and besides RBI deputy governors it included central bank directors from corporate India including Tata Group chairman N. Chandrasekaran, TeamLease chairman Manish Sabharwal and Sun Pharma MD Dilip Shanghvi.

Other directors in the meeting included, Ashok Gulati, Prasanna Kumar Mohanty, Satish Marathe, Revathy Iyer, and Sachin Chaturvedi.

Tarun Bajaj, secretary, department of economic affairs and Debasish Panda, secretary, department of financial services also attended the meeting