RBI Sets Up Panel to Study Gold-Crazy Indians

Mumbai: Reserve Bank Of India (RBI) has set up a committee to study why Indian spend huge amounts of money on buying gold and financing pattern as well. The panel will research on various facets of household finance in India and to benchmark India’s position vis-à-vis both the peer and advanced countries.

Tarun Ramadorai, Professor of Financial Economics, University of Oxford, is heading the panel, which will have representation from financial sector regulators, Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI), IRDAI and PFRDA in addition to RBI.
The Panel will consider whether, how, and why the financial allocations of Indian households deviate from desirable financial allocation and behaviour (e.g, the large household allocation to gold).

Tarun Ramadorai, Professor of Financial Economics, University of Oxford, is heading the panel, which will have representation from financial sector regulators, Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI), IRDAI and PFRDA in addition to RBI.

The committee has also been asked to benchmark the current depth of household financial markets in India vis-a-vis those in other major world markets and to identify areas of priority for growth and change.
The panel will evaluate the design of new systems and the redesign of existing systems of incentives and regulations to encourage and enable better participation by households in formal financial markets.

The terms of reference also include assessing the role of new financial technologies and products in the cost-effective provision of high-quality and suitable financial products to Indian households while containing risks.

Source: PTI