The Union Minister of Finance & Corporate Affairs, Smt. Nirmala Sitharaman held her second Pre- Budget Consultation meeting with the stakeholders from Financial Sector and Capital Markets in connection with the forth coming General Budget 2020-21 here today.

The main areas of discussion during the meeting included issues namely increasing credit off take from Banks , Governance changes in PSBs with special focus on PJ Nayak Committee recommendations, Creation of a well functioning bond markets , benefits of Partial Credit Guarantee Scheme , Alternative Investment Funds in Real Estate Sector ,  measures for alleviating stress among NBFCs among others.

Along with the Finance Minister, the meeting was attended by Shri Anurag Thakur, Minister of State for Finance and Corporate Affairs, Finance Secretary, Shri Rajeev Kumar, Shri Atanu Chakraborty, Secretary, Economic Affairs ,  Shri Ajay Bhushan Pandey, Revenue Secretary, 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 enhancing credit off take from banks , PSBs governance,  Risk capital issues, improving functioning and alleviation of stress among NBFCs , Alternative Investment funds , Mutual funds , commercial papers and standardisation of  Bond features, promoting leasing by reducing GST, reduction of GST rates on Term insurance for increasing its penetration and to provide easier credit to digitally active users by streamlining  KYC norms . Suggestions were also received for enhancing support from Private Banks to Stand up India Scheme.

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 Supratim Bandopadhyay, WTM (F) PFRDA, Ms. Madhabi Puri Buch, Whole Time Member, SEBI,   Shri  L. V. Prabhakar . Executive Director, Punjab National Bank,  Shri M.R. Kumar, Chairman, LIC, Shri Uday Kotak,  MD & CEO,  Kotak Mahindra  Bank Ltd,  Shri S.L. Jain,  Executive Director, Bank of Baroda,  Shri Ashok Swarup, MD, Head of Government affairs and Business Development, CITI Bank,   Shri  Rashesh Shah, CEO, Edelweiss, Shri Rakesh Diwan,  Senior General Manager, The Muthoot Group,  Shri Chandra Shekhar Ghosh,  MD & CEO, Bandhan Bank,  Shri  N.S. Venkatesh,  Chief Executive, Association of Mutual  Funds in India (AMFI),  Shri  N.S. Kannan,  CEO, ICICI Prudential Life Insurance Company Limited,  Shri Navin Ashok Kumar Chandani,  Chief Business Officer, Bank Bazaar,  Shri Raman Aggarwal, Co-Chairman, Finance Industry Confirm Development council (FIDC), Shri Prasanna Balachander, Group Head Global Markets, ICICI Bank Ltd,  Shri Rahul Shukla,  Group Head, Corporate Banking and Confirm Business Banking, HDFC Bank Ltd,  Shri Milind Kamble,  Chairman, DICCI,  Shri Prashant Tripathy,  MD and CEO of Max Life Insurance among others.

Pre-Budget Consultation: Financial stakeholders proposed boosting credit, PSB governance reforms and measures to relieve NBFC stress. Pre-Budget Consultation proposed initiatives to increase credit off-take from banks, reform public sector bank governance, develop bond markets through standardisation and promote risk capital measures including the Partial Credit Guarantee Scheme; additional recommendations targeted NBFC stress alleviation, expansion of alternative investment funds and mutual funds, tax measures to promote leasing and insurance penetration, private bank support for credit schemes, and streamlined KYC for digital credit access.