<p class="title">RBI Governor Urjit Patel on Wednesday declined to answer questions on central bank's autonomy and use of Sec 7 of the RBI Act.</p>.<p class="bodytext">"I would avoid those questions which are not related to monetary policy. We are here discussing the monetary policy resolution," Patel said at the post-policy press conference.</p>.<p class="bodytext">The governor refused two such pointed questions at the presser. One was whether his views were the same as deputy Governor Viral Acharya who went public on RBI autonomy.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Patel's refusal come on the back of the finance ministry making it amply clear that it was upset with the central bank for publicly talking about its differences with the government.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Finance Minister Arun Jaitley also went on record saying that almost all finance ministers preceding him had “issues with the RBI Governors” ever since but none went into public domain.</p>.<p class="bodytext"><strong>READ</strong><strong> MORE</strong></p>.<p class="bodytext"><a href="https://www.deccanherald.com/business/rbi-keeps-policy-repo-rate-706563.html" target="_blank"><strong>RBI keeps </strong></a><a href="https://www.deccanherald.com/business/rbi-keeps-policy-repo-rate-706563.html" target="_blank"><strong>policy</strong></a><a href="https://www.deccanherald.com/business/rbi-keeps-policy-repo-rate-706563.html" target="_blank"><strong> repo rate unchanged at 6.5% </strong></a></p>.<p class="bodytext">The officials believed an open spat could tarnish the country's image among investors.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Patel was facing the press for the first time since the issue came out into the open in October.</p>.<p class="bodytext">The government had invoked a never-before-used Section 7 of the RBI Act directing the central bank to take certain policy steps in public interest.</p>.<p class="bodytext">The Centre's grudge was that RBI was not doing enough to ease credit and liquidity in the market due to which small businesses were suffering.</p>.<p class="bodytext">The critics held that it was not due to squeezing of liquidy by RBI that was impacting MSMEs but it was the government's two back-to-back structural reforms – demonetisation and GST.</p>.<p class="bodytext">The government came in for a severe criticism for invoking Section 7, with former finance minister P Chidambaram saying it showed the government's “desperation” to clip RBI's wings.</p>
<p class="title">RBI Governor Urjit Patel on Wednesday declined to answer questions on central bank's autonomy and use of Sec 7 of the RBI Act.</p>.<p class="bodytext">"I would avoid those questions which are not related to monetary policy. We are here discussing the monetary policy resolution," Patel said at the post-policy press conference.</p>.<p class="bodytext">The governor refused two such pointed questions at the presser. One was whether his views were the same as deputy Governor Viral Acharya who went public on RBI autonomy.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Patel's refusal come on the back of the finance ministry making it amply clear that it was upset with the central bank for publicly talking about its differences with the government.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Finance Minister Arun Jaitley also went on record saying that almost all finance ministers preceding him had “issues with the RBI Governors” ever since but none went into public domain.</p>.<p class="bodytext"><strong>READ</strong><strong> MORE</strong></p>.<p class="bodytext"><a href="https://www.deccanherald.com/business/rbi-keeps-policy-repo-rate-706563.html" target="_blank"><strong>RBI keeps </strong></a><a href="https://www.deccanherald.com/business/rbi-keeps-policy-repo-rate-706563.html" target="_blank"><strong>policy</strong></a><a href="https://www.deccanherald.com/business/rbi-keeps-policy-repo-rate-706563.html" target="_blank"><strong> repo rate unchanged at 6.5% </strong></a></p>.<p class="bodytext">The officials believed an open spat could tarnish the country's image among investors.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Patel was facing the press for the first time since the issue came out into the open in October.</p>.<p class="bodytext">The government had invoked a never-before-used Section 7 of the RBI Act directing the central bank to take certain policy steps in public interest.</p>.<p class="bodytext">The Centre's grudge was that RBI was not doing enough to ease credit and liquidity in the market due to which small businesses were suffering.</p>.<p class="bodytext">The critics held that it was not due to squeezing of liquidy by RBI that was impacting MSMEs but it was the government's two back-to-back structural reforms – demonetisation and GST.</p>.<p class="bodytext">The government came in for a severe criticism for invoking Section 7, with former finance minister P Chidambaram saying it showed the government's “desperation” to clip RBI's wings.</p>