Sunday, October 07, 2012

Will Guv Subbarao relent after meeting his ex-boss Chidambaram last weekend?

Chidambaram with Sebi chief UK Sinha
Will P Chidambaram’s maiden visit to Mumbai after he had taken over as finance minister on August 1, impact the amount that we pay as EMIs for our home and car loans? Along with three top North-Block bureaucrats, the finance minister flew down to the financial capital on Saturday and held serious deliberations with two former bureaucrats among others. Who are they, and what had transpired in those closed-door talks?
First, let’s make it amply clear that finance minister can’t technically ask Reserve Bank governor to lower repo or reserve repo rates which make your loans cheaper. Yet, it is safe to speculate that P Chidambaram in his meeting with RBI governor D Subbarao, a 1972 batch retired IAS, must have argued in favour of a lower interest rate regime in tandem with the government’s recent reforms overdrive.
After all, the RBI will hold its half-yearly credit policy review on October 30, and the market which is already buoyed by the Centre’s reform measures is hoping that the Central Bank would ease interest rates and inject liquidity into the market. So far, Subbarao has not relented, and has disappointed the market several times even after the inflation had dropped. Many in India Inc don’t hesitate to dub Subbarao as a "growth killer".
For the record, Subbarao was Chidambaram’s finance secretary during UPA-I, and he was picked up for governorship by Chidambaram himself. But it remains to be seen whether governor Subbarao will heed to his former boss? Incidentally, Subbarao was the topper of 1972 batch civil services examination, and was an IAS batch-mate of CAG Vinod Rai and CVC Pradeep Kumar.
After meeting Subbarao, FM drove to the Sebi Bhawan. There he met with another former IAS, Sebi chairman UK Sinha. Sinha, a 1976 batch IAS was the head of UTI AMC before being appointed as Sebi head.
Three North Block bureaucrats viz. department of economic affairs secretary Arvind Mayaram (1978 batch IAS), banking secretary DK Mittal (1977 batch IAS) and joint secretary Anup Wadhwan (1985 batch IAS) accompanied the FM to Mumbai.
Also Read
RBI Governor's "Serious" Jokes 

Action and Appointments
a) The ACC has approved that the Central deputation tenure of SK Singh, a 1983 batch Bihar cadre IAS, as chief vigilance officer of Indian Oil Corporation will be till January 1, 2014.

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