Jaitley chairs pre-budget meeting of financial sector regulators

Finance minister Arun Jaitley on Friday chaired a meeting of financial sector regulators, ahead of formalising proposals for the union budget to be presented in Parliament on 1 February.

The eighteenth meeting of the Financial Stability and Development Council (FSDC) , held in the backdrop of new macroeconomic challenges, comes as pre-Budget 2018-19 consultations with the financial sector regulators.

The 18th meeting of FSDC was attended by RBI governor Urjit R Patel, finance secretary Hasmukh Adhia, economic affairs secretary Subhash Chandra Garg, financial services secretary Rajiv Kumar, corporate affairs secretary Injeti Srinivas, Chief economic adviser Arvind Subramanian, Sebi chairman Ajay Tyagi, IRDAI chairman TS Vijayan, PFRDA chairman Hemant G Contractor, IDBI chairman M S Sahoo, and other senior officials of the government of India and financial sector regulators, besides secretary, MCA and chairman IBBI

The Regulators presented their proposals for the Union Budget 2018-19 concerning development of their respective sectors. The Council deliberated over these proposals. Concerned Ministries/Departments were advised by the Council to examine respective proposals in detail for appropriate further decision.

Jaitley's pre-budget meeting with financial sector regulators comes as govt grapples with fiscal pressures and muted tax collections under the new indirect tax regime.

GST collections declined to Rs80,808 crore in November, hitting the lowest since roll-out.

The Financial Stability and Development Council (FSDC) is a high-powered body, has been expanded with the addition of corporate affairs secretary and chairman IBBI through a government notification in September 2017. ''The regulators presented their proposals for the Union Budget 2018-19 concerning development of their respective sectors. The council deliberated over these proposals. Concerned Ministries/Departments were advised by the council to examine respective proposals in detail for appropriate further decision,'' a finance ministry statement said.

Union Budget for 2018-19 would be presented by Jaitley in Parliament on February 1. The regulators inputs, coming just ahead of the presentation of the Union Budget, are crucial as these impact the most important financial segments of the economy.

In the last meeting of the FSDC in August, Chief Economic Adviser Subramanian had made a presentation on the state of economy. The Council had then noted that India has macro-economic stability on the back of improvements in its macro-economic fundamentals, structural reforms with the launch of the Goods and Services Tax (GST), action being taken to address the Twin Balance Sheet (TBS) challenge, extraordinary financial market confidence, reflected in high and rising bond and especially stock valuations and long-term positive consequences of demonetization.