Aizawl, Oct 16 (KNN) The Central Board of the RBI met here on Thursday and reviewed the current economic situation, global and domestic challenges and policy responses.
 
This was the RBI Central Board’s first meeting in Aizawl. The meeting was chaired by Raghuram G Rajan, Governor, Reserve Bank of India (RBI).
 
The Directors of the Central Board of the Reserve Bank present at the meeting included Nachiket Mor, Y C Deveshwar, Damodar Acharya and Government nominee director, Ajay Tyagi, Additional Secretary (Investment) Department of Economic Affairs.
 
Deputy Governors Harun R Khan, Urjit R Patel, R Gandhi, and S S Mundra of the Reserve Bank of India, also participated.
 
The Central Board meets at least once every quarter. Apart from holding meetings in Mumbai, Chennai, Kolkata and one in New Delhi after the Union Budget which is addressed by the Finance Minister, the rest of the meetings are held in other state capitals by rotation. The main function of the Central Board of Directors of the Reserve Bank is to provide overall direction to the Reserve Bank’s affairs.
 
In the afternoon, Pu Lal Thanhawla, Chief Minister of Mizoram and Rajan inaugurated the Reserve Bank’s sub-office in Aizawl. The Aizawl Office of the Reserve Bank will have Financial Inclusion and Development Department, Consumer Education and Protections Cell, Market Intelligence Unit and Human Resource Management Department.
 
Appreciating the RBI’s initiative to open a new office in the state capital, the Chief Minister said, “Today is a red letter day in the financial history of Mizoram as the new branch of RBI has been inaugurated today in this building.”
 
Pu Lalsawta, Finance Minister of Mizoram, in his remarks said, “It is a great day, a milestone for Mizoram. Banking services will now henceforth be much more improved with the RBI having an Office in Mizoram.”
 
Chief Secretary and senior officers of the state government, commercial banks and the Reserve Bank were also present.
 
The Reserve Bank will open its office in Imphal on October 17, 2015. With these two additions, the Reserve Bank will now have offices in five of the seven states in the North East.
 
Later, the Governor also had an one-to-one meeting with Thanhawla and discussed issues like high interest rates being charged by some non-banking finance companies; feasibility of opening foreign exchange counters at Lunglei and Champhai (if not in all the district headquarters) in order to boost border trade; conducting training programmes for the state government officials on various RBI related issues; precautions to be taken by the Government of Mizoram to protect the interest of depositors of various savings/investment schemes run by private persons/institutions.
 
Earlier in the day, Thanhawla also chaired a special State Level Bankers’ Committee (SLBC) meeting with the Reserve Bank Governor co-chairing the meeting. Issues discussed were, credit-deposit ratio in Mizoram; appointment of one Mizo speaking person at the Central Pension Processing Centre, established by the State Bank of India, to address the challenges faced by pensioners. The Governor also appealed to banks to provide full support to various financial inclusion schemes and steps taken by the Government.
 
On Wednesday, the Governor along with RBI Central Board Directors made a courtesy visit to Lt Gen Nirbhay Sharma, the Governor of Mizoram and discussed economic and financial development of the state. (KNN Bureau)