Demonetisation: RBI governor Urjit Patel to appear before finance panel
New Delhi: Concerned over the havoc created by demonetisation in the banking system and the gross inconvenience being caused to the common man, the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Finance has summoned Reserve Bank of India (RBI) Governor Urjit Patel on December 22.
Sources privy to developments said that the Parliamentary panel is likely to grill Mr Patel about the extent of RBI’s role in planning the entire demonetisation exercise and whether it had prepared any back-up plan to combat its negative fallout.
The panel led by Congress MP M. Veerappa Moily will be discussing the burning issue for the first time since Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s announcement last month making Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes invalid from November 8 midnight onwards.
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Sources said the panel is quite worried over the fallout of the entire exercise, which has been causing a great deal of pain to the common man, and it mainly wants to know from the RBI Governor as to how much say did he have in the entire process.
They further added that Mr Patel is also likely to be asked about the kind of planning done by the Government over the issue, mainly on what were the key reasons which led to the entire exercise.
Also whether the Government and the RBI were aware of the quantum of impact the demonetisation exercise would have on the common man, is another aspect which the Parliamentary panel is likely to discuss with the RBI Governor.
Incidentally, December 22 will only be the second time the Parliamentary panel will be meeting since the demonetisation policy was announced by the Prime Minister on November 8.
The panel had met on November 9 to discuss security related issues concerning payments in the banking sector. During that meeting, it had summoned representatives of State Bank of India, HDFC Bank, ICICI Bank and Yes Bank to discuss security related issues. Since the committee meetings are pre-planned, it could not discuss the demonetisation issue on November 9.
