Post-Budget RBI Board Meeting 2024: FM Nirmala Sitharaman urges banks to develop innovative products to mobilise deposits

Post-Budget RBI Board Meeting 2024: Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Saturday attended a customary post-Budget meeting of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) board to discuss banking-related measures and decisions in the Finance Bill 2024.

The meeting comes roughly about fortnight since the finance minister presented her record 7th consecutive Union Budget in Parliament last month.

RBI Governor Shaktikanta Das and the Finance Minister jointly addressed a press conference after the meeting.

Here are some key takeaways from what the Union Minister and the RBI Governor said:

FM Nirmala Sitharaman

• Both RBI, govt asking banks to focus on core banking
• Deposits and lending are the two wheels of a cart and "deposit is moving slowly."
• Concern about investment in textiles and garments from Bangladesh

Governor Shaktikanta Das

• Banks are free to decide on interest rates
• Interest rates on deposits and lending are deregulated
• 4 per cent drop in Current Account and Savings Account (CASA) deposits, from 43 per cent to 39 per cent