RBI governor Sanjay Malhotra to hold first meeting with bank chiefs on January 27

RBI Governor Sanjay Malhotra

The new Reserve Bank of India governor Sanjay Malhotra will have his first interaction with the chief executives of India’s public and private sector banks on January 27, sources said. The interaction is more of a meet-and-greet occasion, they said.

There is no agenda as such and usual items such as bank credit and deposit growth, possible stress in the system, digital frauds and technology infrastructure would likely be discussed.

“As this is the first formal interaction with the new governor, we would like to understand from him his expectations for the sector rather than we make a representation on a few things affecting the industry at this point,” a CEO who spoke to Moneycontrol on condition of anonymity said.

Malhotra, formerly India’s revenue secretary and a 1990-batch Indian Administrative Services officer, took over as the RBI governor on December 11 for a period of three years.

He succeeded Shaktikanta Das whose six-year long tenure ended December 10.

Weeks ahead of Malhotra taking charge, the GDP growth data for September 2024 quarter dipped to a seven-quarter low of 5.4 percent. Simultaneously, bank credit growth, in the range of 10.5–11.1 percent as per latest data, has also shown signs of shrinking in the recent months.
Apart from slowing growth and the fight for deposit, a few critical issues such as adoption of the proposed liquidity coverage ratio, project finance guidelines and expected credit loss norms may come into effect from April 1.

Bankers, however, say they have not received communication on the adoption of these proposals.  “While we would like to seek clarity on these fronts also, the upcoming interaction may not be the right forum,” a CEO of a PSU bank said, wishing not to be identified.