Page 50 - BANKING FINANCE OCTOBER 2021

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optimal approach that financial service providers can Bibliography:
leverage to develop lasting relationships with women 1. Kohli, R. (2018), "Women & Banking: India's financial
customers is by engaging more women in this sector. inclusion suffers from a gender gap," https://
www.financialexpress.com/
Thus, from a deeper understanding, overall financial stability 2. National Policy for the Empowerment of Women (2001),
could only be accomplished by a substantial rise in women's https://wcd.nic.in/womendevelopment/national-policy-
income and investment-related freedom. To a great extent, women-empowerment
this would reduce all gender inequality and open a gateway 3. Indian Sustainable Finance Movement, https://
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to a more inclusive society. Interestingly, an honest and
Banking%20on%20Gender%20Equality_0.pdf
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4. Gupta, V., Hieronimus, S., Krishnan, M. & Madgavka, A.
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small savings and micro-insurance, which, over some time, 5. Arnold, J. & Gammage, S. (2019), "Gender and financial
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Monetary policy tightening by RBI is several quarters away:

Former Dy Guv

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) is expected to continue with its current accommodative stance to maintain sufficient
liquidity in the system and monetary policy tightening is several quarters away as the economic revival has not reached
the pre-Covid level, the apex bank's former deputy governor R Gandhi claimed. He said the low-interest rate regime
will continue to support the economic activities. "In my assessment, normalisation or monetary policy tightening in
India is several quarters away. Definitely, not in the current fiscal. Economy is reviving but we have not reached the
absolute pre-Covid level of 2019-20," Gandhi said at an event organised by the Bengal Chamber of Commerce and
Industry.
"RBI will do (monetary policy tightening) when the economy will be growing sustainably," he said. The central bank
had on August 6 kept interest rates unchanged at a record low as it chose to support economic revival over inflation.
The six-member Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) voted in favour of retaining the main repurchase rate at 4 per cent
but was split on continuing with the lower-for-longer stance.

The RBI had last revised its policy rate on May 22, 2020, in an off-policy cycle to perk up demand by cutting the interest
rate to a historic low. This was the seventh straight meeting when it maintained the status quo. But traders and analysts
are seeing hints that India's central bank is seeking to drain record liquidity from the banking system, as it is increasingly
shifting its forex intervention to the forwards market.
Earlier this month, the apex bank governor Shaktikanta Das had said, "As markets settle down to regular timings and
functioning and liquidity operations normalise, the RBI will also conduct fine-tuning operations from time to time as
needed to manage unanticipated and one-off liquidity flows so that liquid conditions in the system evolve in a balanced
and evenly distributed manner." The next meeting of the MPC is scheduled from October 6 to 8. Gandhi acknowledged
that NBFCs will gradually garner larger banking market share with more technological interventions. He also said low-
interest rate regime will continue even though common people suffer due to decreasing deposit rates from banks.

50 | 2021 | OCTOBER | BANKING FINANCE