30th FSDC Meeting on Macro-Financial Stability
Union Minister for Finance & Corporate Affairs Smt. Nirmala Sitharaman chaired the 30th Meeting of the Financial Stability and Development Council (FSDC) in New Delhi. The council reviewed macro-financial stability issues and India's preparedness to deal with them, particularly in the context of rising geopolitical uncertainties, the artificial intelligence boom, and sharp increases in global bond yields. The FSDC emphasized the need for heightened vigilance and proactive measures to mitigate emerging risks to India's financial stability.
Cybersecurity and Financial Sector Resilience
The Council reviewed the cyber resilience of the Indian financial sector and noted the Financial Sector Cyber Security Strategy (FSCSS) formulated by an Inter-Ministerial Group comprising financial sector regulators and cybersecurity agencies in coordination with the Department of Economic Affairs, Department of Financial Services, and Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology. The implementation of FSCSS is expected to strengthen the overall resilience of the Indian financial sector. Discussions also covered India's preparedness to protect Critical Information Infrastructure, resilience of protection systems, and improving cybersecurity preparedness of Regional Rural Banks (RRBs).
Regulatory Modernization and Financial Reforms
The FSDC discussed measures to promote innovation in the Fintech sector and explore prospects of tokenization of financial assets and other real-world assets. The council deliberated on formulating a strategy for implementing past decisions and budget announcements, including strengthening the domestic investment ecosystem and improving resource flow for investment in GIFT-IFSC, simplification and digitalization of KYC processes and digital onboarding for NRIs and FPIs, reforms to scale up Digital Public Infrastructures (DPIs) including Account Aggregator and Unified Lending Interface framework with specific focus on MSMEs, reducing cost of intermediation in the financial sector, improving responsiveness of regulations, and rationalization of Credit Guarantee Schemes in India.
Unclaimed Assets and Meeting Frequency
Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman urged regulators and stakeholders to expedite the process of refunding unclaimed assets including bank deposits, dividends, shares, post office accounts, insurance, and pension funds to their rightful owners. The FSDC noted the success of the "Your Money, Your Right" campaign at the district level to refund existing unclaimed financial assets and guided Ministries and Regulators to pursue additional efforts for timely refunds. Given rising geopolitical headwinds and global uncertainty, the Finance Minister urged the Council to hold FSDC meetings at more frequent intervals with a predefined schedule.
Attendance and Coordination
The meeting was attended by key financial sector leaders including Shri Sanjay Malhotra (Governor, Reserve Bank of India), Ms. Anuradha Thakur (Secretary, Department of Economic Affairs), Shri Sanjay Lohiya (Secretary, Department of Financial Services), Shri Arvind Shrivastava (Secretary, Department of Revenue), Shri S. Krishnan (Secretary, Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology), Dr. Pallavi Jain Govil (Secretary, Ministry of Corporate Affairs), Dr. V. Anantha Nageswaran (Chief Economic Adviser), Shri Tuhin Kanta Pandey (Chairperson, SEBI), Shri Ajay Seth (Chairperson, IRDAI), Shri K. Rajaraman (Chairperson, IFSCA), Shri S. Ramann (Chairperson, PFRDA), Shri Jayanti Prasad (Acting Chairperson, IBBI), Dr. Sanjay Bahl (Director General, CERT-In), and Ms. Aparna Sinha (FSDC Secretary). The council also took note of activities undertaken by the FSDC Sub-Committee chaired by the RBI Governor and action taken on pending past decisions.