The central board of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) met on Friday and discussed several issues, including the fallout of the Russian invasion of Ukraine on the Indian economy.
“The Board of Directors, during its meeting, reviewed the various areas of Bank activity and the current economic situation, global and national challenges, including the overall impact of the current global geopolitical crises,” said the central bank in a press release.
Sources say Indian banks do not have much exposure to the two warring countries. However, oil prices surged after escalating tensions and are trading above the $100 a barrel mark, which could impact India’s current account deficit and inflation. Gasoline and diesel pump prices have increased three times in the past four days. The rupee fell to an all-time low at the start of the month, prompting the central bank to sell dollars to stem the currency’s slide.
India is also considering designing an alternative payment mechanism to pay Russia for oil imports after Western countries blocked Russia from using the Swift payment network.
The central council also discussed the activities of the Reserve Bank in the current accounting year 2021-22. “The Board also approved the budget for the 2022-23 financial year,” the statement said.
The meeting chaired by RBI Governor Shaktikanta Das also brought together the four Deputy Governors, as well as other directors of the RBI including Satish K. Marathe, S. Gurumurthy, Revathy Iyer and Sachin Chaturvedi.
The government-appointed directors Ajay Seth, secretary of the Department of Economic Affairs and Sanjay Malhotra, secretary of the Department of Financial Services also attended the meeting, RBI said.
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