Govt mulls strengthening regulatory coordination panel: P. Chidambaram

The government is working to strengthen the high-level regulatory coordination panel – Financial Stability Development Council (FSDC) – so that it can act as a “war room” in times of global financial meltdown as witnessed in 2008, Finance Minister P.Chidambaram said on Monday.

“We are working to strengthen the databases and technical capabilities of FSDC so as to make it a full grown systemic risk agency… If we face a situation like 2008 again the FSDC will be war-room,” he said at an event in New Delhi.

The FSDC, headed by the Finance Minister, was set up in 2010 to coordinate the work of various financial sector regulators, including RBI, SEBI (capital markets), IRDA (insurance) and PFRDA (pension).

The Minister said that the FSDC has improved the communication between all the regulators and plan is afoot to set up the financial data management centre. Observing that India was one of the most affected emerging markets following the collapse of Lehman Brothers in 2008, Mr.Chidambaram said there is a need to improve the mechanism to deal with systemic risks.

He further said, “Contrary to popular perception, the government and Reserve Bank together worked closely at that time. These experiences have motivated much soul searching on the subject of systemic risks.” The Minister underlined the need for strengthening the bond and currency derivatives market to deal with systemic risks in future.