Union Minister for Finance Nirmala Sitharaman chaired the 22nd Meeting of the Financial Stability and Development Council (FSDC) and reviewed prevailing microeconomic situation in the country in New Delhi Thursday.

The meeting was attended by Shaktikanta Das, Governor, Reserve Bank of India, SEBI Chairperson Ajay Tyagi, IRDAI Chairman Subhash Chandra Khuntia, PFRDA Chairperson Supratim Bandyopadhyay, and the Chairperson of the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Board of India M.S. Sahoo Chairperson, (IBBI) among other officials and secretaries of the Finance Ministry.

The meeting reviewed the current global and domestic macro-economic situation, financial stability and vulnerabilities issues, major issues likely to be faced by banks and other financial institutions as also regulatory and policy responses, Liquidity / Solvency of NBFCs/HFCs/MFIs and other related issues. Besides, market volatility, domestic resource mobilisation and capital flows issues were also discussed by the Council.

The Council noted that the COVID-19 Pandemic crisis poses a serious threat to the stability of the global financial system as the ultimate impact of the crisis and the timing of recovery, is uncertain at this point of time.

While, decisive monetary and fiscal policy actions aimed at containing the fallout from the pandemic, have stabilised investor sentiment in the short-run, there is a need to keep a continuous vigil by Government and all regulators on the financial conditions that could expose financial vulnerabilities in the medium and long-term.

The efforts of the Government and regulators are focused on avoiding a prolonged period of dislocation in financial markets.

The Council took note of the initiatives taken by the Government and the regulators in the recent months to help revive the economy. 

Government and the RBI have announced various fiscal and monetary measures to pre-emptively limit the economic damage and would continue to address the liquidity and capital requirements of the financial institutions.

The Council also reviewed the action taken by members on the decision taken by FSDC earlier.