Jaitley to review major economic challenges

Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, along with heads of all financial sector regulators will review major issues and challenges facing the economy at the Financial Stability and Development Council meeting on Tuesday.

The meeting comes around two months after the roll out of the major indirect tax overhaul, when the Goods and Services Tax was introduced on July 1. The Council expected to review the roll out and oversee the shortcomings if any, according to senior officials.

The meeting will also review the status of non-performing assets of public sector banks and steps to tackle bad loans. the progress so far on promoting financial inclusion will be looked at so also the ways to up insurance penetration among people.

Cyber security and digital innovation are two main topics for discussion wherein the Council is expected to suggest ways to enhance digital transactions across the country.

State of economy after the November 8 demonetisation will be discussed in the wake of apprehensions that the note ban has killed consumer demand especially in rural areas. However, the recent Economic Survey gave a thumbs up to note ban and said consumer demand is back to pre-demonetisation era.

Officials to attend

The meeting will be attended by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) Governor Urjit Patel, along with Finance Secretary Ashok Lavasa, Economic Affairs Secretary Subhash Garg, Financial Services Secretary Anjuly Chib Duggal, Revenue Secretary Hasmukh Adhia, Chief Economic Adviser Arvind Subramanian, SEBI Chairman Ajay Tyagi, IRDAI Chairman T S Vijayan and PFRDA Chairman Hemant G Contractor, among other officials.