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Ajay Seth, secretary, Department of Economic Affairs, said the global financial situation is daunting but the Indian financial sector is well protected and well regulated.
The secretary was interacting with media persons after the Financial Stability and Development Council (FSDC) took place in the capital on Monday. Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman chaired the meeting. The meeting was organised for the first time after the announcement of the Budget 2023-24. During the meeting of the Council, it was discussed that the policy and legislative reform measures required to further develop the financial sector may be formulated and implemented expeditiously to not only increase the financial access of the people, but also increase their overall economic well-being. Sitharaman said, "Regulators should maintain a constant vigil as ensuring 'financial sector stability is a shared responsibility' of the regulators. Regulators must take appropriate and timely action to mitigate any vulnerability and strengthen financial stability." She said regulators should adopt a focused approach to reduce the compliance burden further and ensure a streamlined and efficient regulatory environment. She added that Indian financial sector is well protected"The progress achieved in this regard shall be reviewed by the Union Finance Minister with each regulator in June 2023." She also advised the regulators need to be proactive and ensure cyber-security preparedness of the information technology systems to reduce the risk of cyber-attacks, protect sensitive financial data, and maintain overall system integrity, thus safeguarding the stability and resilience of the Indian financial ecosystem. During the meeting, she said, "Regulators should conduct a special drive to facilitate the settlement of unclaimed deposits and claims in the financial sector across all segments, such as banking deposits, shares and dividends, mutual funds, insurance, etc." Action taken report on Budget announcements made since 2019 was discussed during the meeting, the finance minister said. A focused approach should be adopted by the regulators to implement the announcements made in the Budget 2023-24, for which timelines were also decided. The Council, inter alia, also deliberated on early warning indicators for the economy and our preparedness to deal with them, reducing compliance burden on the regulated entities in the financial sector by improving regulatory quality, debt levels of corporates and households in India, simplification and streamlining of KYC framework to meet the needs of Digital India, seamless experience for retail investors in government securities, Bimakrit Bharat - Unique Value Proposition to take insurance to last mile, and support required in terms of resolving inter-regulatory issues for GIFT IFSC to play strategic role in Atmanirbhar Bharat, according to the statement by the finance ministry. The Council also took note of the activities undertaken by the FSDC Sub-Committee chaired by the Reserve Bank of India Governor Shaktikanta Das and the action taken by members on the past decisions of the FSDC. Reserve Bank of India (RBI) Governor Shaktikanta Das, Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India (IRDAI) Chief Debashish Panda, Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) Chairperson Madhabi Puri Buch, Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority (PFRDA) Chief Deepak Mohanty, Finance Secretary TV Somanathan, Revenue Secretary Rajesh Malhotra, Department of Financial Services (DFS) Secretary Vivek Joshi, Department of Economic Affairs (DEA) Secretary Ajay Seth and other officials of the finance ministry have taken part in this meeting. (ANI)
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