The Union Minister of Finance & Corporate Affairs, Smt. Nirmala Sitharaman held her third Pre- Budget Consultation Meeting with the stakeholders from Financial Sector and Capital Markets here today.

The main areas of discussion during the Meeting included issues relating to the Capital Markets, Financial Sector, Non-Banking Financial Companies (NBFCs) and Alternative Investment Funds (AIFs) among others.

Along with the Finance Minister, the meeting was attended by Shri Anurag Thakur, Minister of State for Finance and Corporate Affairs, Shri Subhash C. Garg, Finance Secretary, Shri Girish Chandra Murmu, Expenditure Secretary, Shri Ajay Narayan Pandey, Revenue Secretary, Shri Rajeev Kumar, Secretary, DFS, Shri Atanu Chakraborty, Secretary, DIPAM, Shri Pramod Chandra Mody, Chairman, CBDT, Shri P.K Das, Chairman, CBIC, Dr K.V. Subramanian, CEA and other senior officials of Ministry of Finance.

With a view to give boost to Indian markets, the representatives of Financial Sector & Capital Markets submitted several suggestions concerning infusion of capital in niche/regional banks, enhanced role of Financial Sector Development Council, on the NBFC Sector, need to distinguish between solvency, governance & liquidity issues was mentioned along with creation of dedicated liquidity window for NBFC sector, review of interest rates on Govt.’s Small Savings Schemes, review of banking NPAs provisions through setting-up a Committee, enhancing financial literacy programmes and funding,  incentivising agricultural marketing, setting-up of Debt Exchange Traded Fund, domestic capability building in Audit & Credit Rating, making available trade licence online for MSME sector, provision to ease liquidity pressures created due to insolvency, rationalisation of various taxes like Security Transaction Tax (STT) in capital market, setting-up of a separate bond exchange, allowing banks to invest in InvITs to access broader market and make Corporate Tax progressive to incentivise MSME Sector among others.

Major Stakeholders of Financial Sector and Capital Markets participated in the Meeting including Shri N. S. Vishwanathan, Deputy Governor, Reserve Bank of India, Shri Rajnish Kumar, Chairman, State Bank of India, Shri Sunil Mehta, Chairman, PNB and Indian Banks’Association, Shri T.C. Suseel Kumar, MD, LIC, Shri Rakesh Mohan Diwan, Senior Vice President – Corporate Affairs-The Muthoot Group, Shri Rajiv Anand, ED, Axis Bank Ltd, Shri Ashu Khullar, CEO, Citibank India, Shri Abheek Barua, Chief Economist, HDFC Bank Ltd., Shri Chandra Shekhar Ghosh, Chairman & MD, Bandhan Bank, , Shri N.S. Venkatesh, CEO, Association of Mutual Funds in India, Shri Raman Aggarwal, Chairman, Finance Industry Development Council & Sr. Vice President, Srei Equipment Finance Ltd., Shri Ravi Kumar Narra, National Working President, Dalit Indian Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Shri S. Harisankar, MD & CEO, Punjab & Sind Bank, Shri Rashesh Shah, Chairman & CEO, Edelweiss Finance, Shri Pallav Mohapatra, MD & CEO, Central Bank of India, Shri Imtaiyazur Rahman, Whole Time Director, UTI Mutual Fund, Shri V. Vaidyanathan, MD & CEO, IDFC Bank Ltd., Shri Supratim Bandyopadhyay, Whole Time Member (Finance), Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority, Smt. Shubhada Rao, Group President & Chief Economist, Yes Bank, Shri Vaidya Nathan, Faculty Director-PGP Finance, Indian School of Business, Shri Rakesh Sharma, MD & CEO, Industrial Development Bank of India, Shri Uday Kotak, MD & CEO, Kotak Mahindra Bank Ltd., Shri Raghav Iyengar, Director & CEO, Indiabulls Asset Management Company, Shri Rakesh Singh, CEO, Aditya Birla Finance Ltd., Shri G. Mahalingam, WTM, SEBI, Shri Subhash C. Khuntia, Chairman, Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India, Shri Gaurav, Chopra, Executive Director, Payment Council of India, Shri Alok Bansal, CFO & Co-Founder, Policy Bazaar and Shri Akshay Jain, DGM PayTM Payments Banks among others.

NBFC liquidity support: propose dedicated liquidity window and regulatory distinction between solvency, governance and liquidity pressures. Pre budget consultations urged regulatory separation of solvency, governance and liquidity issues for NBFCs and proposed creation of a dedicated NBFC liquidity window, easing liquidity pressures from insolvency, and review of NPA provisioning via a specialised committee. Additional proposals sought market reforms such as a Debt ETF, separate bond exchange, permitting bank investment in InvITs, review of small savings rates, rationalisation of capital markets taxes, capacity building in audit and credit rating, online MSME trade licensing, and progressive corporate tax measures to incentivise MSMEs.