The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) Governor, D. Subbarao, on Monday called on the Finance Minister, P. Chidambaram, at the latter’s office.
This is Subbarao’s first meeting with the Minister after he assumed charge as Finance Minister on August 1.
Terming the meeting as a “courtesy call”, the RBI Governor said no specific policy action issues were discussed. He said he would meet the Minister again for a detailed discussion on the economic situation.
It may be recalled that Subbarao, a former Finance Secretary, was appointed RBI Governor during Chidambaram’s previous stint as Finance Minister during 2004-08.
The RBI had in its recent quarterly monetary policy review pegged the inflation estimate for end-March 2013 at 7 per cent. It had recently lowered the economic growth estimate for the current fiscal at 6.5 per cent against 7.3 per cent earlier
Chidambaram is faced with a challenge of lifting the sagging economy and boosting investor confidence amid a weak growth outlook globally.
The Indian economy’s growth slipped to nine-year low of 6.5 per cent in 2011-12.