In this interview, Rakesh Mohan spoke on a range of issues about the challenges he faced during his stint at the central bank and the journey from handling the real economy sectors to monetary economics
Even with a clear mandate, the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance government is unlikely to allow foreign direct investment in sensitive sectors such as retail and may like to revisit the recently issued norms that give companies elbow room in dealing with the FDI norms.
Sri Lankans queued up to apply for fresh passports outside the department of immigration and emigration office in Colombo.
Economic Affairs Secretary Subhash Garg is the finance ministry's primary liaison with the RBI.
"If we think that China is a security threat and Chinese think that India is not going to open up certain sectors for them, the economic relations between the two countries would not go far," he said.
Some real estate companies were using this route to raise funds. Given the stringent conditions for ECBs, these companies would now find it difficult to raise funds.
Retail, telecom, media and a host of sectors in which foreign direct investment is restricted stand to gain from changes in FDI policy that the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs cleared on Wednesday linking approvals to the concept of control for the first time.
The government has sought loan for converting 6,372-km of 1-lane highways to 2-lane out of the total 19,702 km single lane highways in the country under National Highways Development Project Phase IV.
The Union home ministry has cancelled the Foreign Contribution Regulation Act (FCRA) registration of the Centre for Policy Research (CPR) for alleged violation of laws, a move the public think-tank termed "incomprehensible and disproportionate" and vowed to seek legal recourse against.
According to sources, the Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion and Ministry of IT have supported the reserve price of Rs 2,020 crore (Rs 20.2 billion) as was originally recommended by DoT. Last week, the finance ministry had asked the DoT to double the reserve price for pan-India 3G spectrum.
India and the Netherlands on Tuesday signed a memorandum of understanding for cooperation in biotechnology with an aim to find solutions to problems in agricultural and health
Engagement with neighbours is a strategic imperative, and not an option, asserts Rup Narayan Das.
The high level of capital inflows has forced the government to put fresh restrictions on ECBs. In August this year, the Reserve Bank of India tightened ECB rules by limiting the use of foreign loans in India at $20 million per company.
The Home Ministry has conveyed to the Department of Economic Affairs (DEA) that it has not given security clearance to the Abu Dhabi-based Etihad Airways' proposal to buy a 24 per cent stake in Jet Airways.
The Oil and Natural Gas Corporation may face delisting from stock exchanges as a petroleum ministry directive appointing additional government directors on company board has violated its listing agreement.
The government of Switzerland will not be taking up the allegation by Novartis that Indian patent law is incompatible with the Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights agreement at the dispute settlement board of the WTO.
As part of the exercise, each family will get complete ownership of the businesses it manages while scrapping the holding company.
Rajiv Kumar will continue as vice-chairman of the body, along with other full-time members V K Saraswat, Ramesh Chand and V K Paul.
The government is likely to file draft papers for the mega initial public offering of LIC with market regulator Sebi by next week, while a portion of the issue would be reserved for anchor investors, a top official said on Wednesday.
The Union Cabinet has approved amendments to the General Insurance Business (Nationalisation) Act, paving the way for privatisation of government-owned insurers. The amendments, approved by Cabinet, will remove the clause for the Centre to hold at least 51 per cent in public sector insurance companies at any given time. It will also have an enabling provision for the transfer of management control from the government to the potential buyer of the public sector insurance company. The finance ministry will move amendments to the insurance Act in the ongoing Parliament session.
The rural co-operative credit sector in the country is set to get a boost with $1 billion loan from the Asian Development Bank to the centre.
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman will present her second Budget a little more than a month from now. Like any other FM, Sitharaman will depend on her team of bureaucrats and advisors to frame and present the Budget.
The finance ministry will kick-start the exercise to prepare the Union Budget for financial year 2022-23 (FY23) from October 12, according to an official notification released on Monday. "The pre-Budget meetings as well as the meetings to discuss the revised estimates will start from October 12 and will continue till the second week of November," according to the Budget circular of the Department of Economic Affairs' Budget Division. The Union Budget is expected to be announced on February 1, as has been the practice of the past few years.
The government on Wednesday cleared the setting up of an Investment Commission to woo foreign as well as domestic investors for major projects in the country.
7 key areas that the Budget must address to re-energise the infrastructure sector, suggests Vinayak Chatterjee.
Rakesh Mohan, Secretary, Department of Economic Affairs, on Tuesday pointed out that the Indian economy was on the move with the gross domestic product growing at about 7 per cent last year and investment levels in the country also going up.
US nominee for World Bank president, Ajay Banga, has tested positive for COVID-19 following which the meetings scheduled during his two-day visit to India have been cancelled. According to a Finance Ministry statement, Banga's meeting with Nirmala Sitharaman would not happen as he is in quarantine. "During routine testing, Ajay Banga tested positive for COVID-19 but remains asymptomatic.
The Agency said it has delivered the required certification notifying Congress of this possible sale on Thursday.
Traditionally, the Budget making exercise begins from mid-October.
One representative of the government as well as that of the Indian Banks' Association have been included in the expert committee which will advise the government on the new company law.
The Department of Telecom gearing up for the 3G spectrum auction as per schedule on January 30 and has left it to the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs to take a call on the reserve price for a pan-India 3G licence.
Tech giant allowed to set up fully owned shops, with 30% local sourcing like everyone else.
At the press interaction, Sitharaman said secretaries from the department of financial services and economic affairs will be meeting a deputy governor of RBI soon to look into the "shortcomings" of the functioning of multi-state cooperative banks and see if any amendments can be made to the laws.
With the shifting of the Foreign Investment Promotion Board to the finance ministry, the government has now reconstituted the board appointing Finance Secretary S Narayan as its chairperson.\n\n\n\n
The government and World Bank on Tuesday signed an agreement for a credit of 180 million SDR ($250 million equivalent) from International Development Agency for the Technical Engineering Education Quality Improvement Project.
