Many financial sector reforms suggested by the Percy Mistry Committee may not figure in Budget 2008-09.
The Reserve Bank of India is in favour of a cautious and gradual approach to financial sector reforms rather than a big-bang approach, as advocated by the Percy Mistry Committee report on making Mumbai an international financial centre.
India will lose up to $50 billion to $70 billion per annum in terms of financial and commodity trade services fees in the next 12-15 years, if it fails to open up its financial sector to competition.
I agree with the Tarapore report on fuller capital account convertibility except for the time frame set.
The Mystery Report lists 48 (!) "Recommended Actions" (mostly in the next two years) for paving the way for Mumbai's rise as an IFC. It's a wide-ranging and challenging list.
The 15-member committee has also recommended the imposition of a goods and service tax on financial services, and creation of a currency spot market and rupee-settled exchange traded currency derivatives market.
FMC has been asked to go ahead with the appointment of 20 experts, which the commission had sought earlier.
Two successive reports, one by Percy Mistry in 2007 and the other by Raghuram Rajan in 2008 had provided the RBI and the finance ministry with blueprints of what to do next. Both reports, unfortunately, was put on ice. The global meltdown saved the RBI. It also saved the finance ministry from having to work on the two reports.
The Gujarat International Finance Tech-City, or Gift City, is expected to be spread over 886 acres and will have a special economic zone on 261 acres.
DEA officials to push for this at a meeting with FM Jaitley.
Percy S Mistry, chairman of the high-powered committee on making Mumbai an international financial hub, has put in his papers following differences of opinion with other members.
Congestion on Mumbai roads has become chronic.
Percy Mistry says things at market regulator Sebi are also in bad shape.
What is required from government is intellectual framework.
Urban planners and real estate experts say bad town planning in Mumbai and rising deaths during the ongoing pandemic are a "sad reality". Dev Chatterjee and Raghavendra Kamath report.
GIFT is a financial centre almost entirely devoid of bankers and, indeed, of people.
The size of the hole in today's banking crisis appears to be roughly 10 per cent of GDP.
The financial crisis has challenged the intellectual assumptions on which previous regulatory approaches were largely built, and in particular the theory of rational and self-correcting markets.
