Urjit Patel

“A well-functioning transmission should at some point go from the overnight right up to 40 years, and that is the ultimate objective in having monetary transmission that affects the whole gamut of borrowing tenure.”

“I think India's policy that the openness of trade should be carried through a multilateral process is the right one.”

“What is important is that in a capital-scarce country like India, the real interest rate needs to be positive enough to encourage healthy growth of financial savings; we get into macro difficulties when real rates on financial savings become negative for a length of time.”

“I think that it is important that one grows a thick skin fast in this business, and I think we have done that.”

“People have asked why the new currency introduced was different in size and thickness from the old. This is because the new currency has been designed to make it hard to counterfeit. When you are going to make a change of this magnitude, you need to get the best standards in place.”

“Remonetisation has happened at a fast pace, and that was part of the plan that, subsequent to the withdrawal of the specified bank notes, our production plans and supply processes would ensure that the remonetisation happened as quickly as possible.”

“Government should eschew suasion and directives to banks on interest rates that run counter to monetary policy actions.”

“From the RBI side, the fake Indian currency note is an important issue that needed to be addressed. The other collateral benefits from this, in terms of greater accountability, better public finance, more transparency, are, by definition, areas that take time to fully play out.”

“Valid criticism is something that we are open for, and we take it in the spirit in which it is given and try to improve ourselves.”

“If very fundamental reforms take place, especially when it comes to factors of production like land, labour, then a higher growth rate is possible.”

“There are tens of thousands of bank branches and 4,000 currency chests. We need to be careful and try that this is a number which is not a mere estimate but a verified number both physically and in the accounting sense.”

“There will always be divergence of views on the output gap, as it is unobservable in a rigorous direct sense. There are only estimates. How can there be a strong consensus on that?”

“We have been mandated by the government, backed by legislation, that we have to have an inflation target of about 4%.”

“The best way that a central bank can support growth on a durable basis is to ensure inflation is low, stable - there is financial stability - and that is the role that the central bank plays.”

“There is little room for complacency, and it is important to guard against sporadic volatility in financial markets.”

“The two important variables for the policy formulation are projected inflation and the output gap. There is no clear hidebound mathematics that we must give 'X' weight to inflation and 'Y' weight to growth and form the associated policy.”

“One of the things that the public sector banks need to do is to raise private capital from the market and not rely on government largesse.”

“I think it is important that we should be on the side of keeping borders open with respect to trade and movement of factors of production.”

“We should redefine the metric for effective lending, viz., prioritise loans to enterprises, which will generate more employment.”

“Large credit guarantees also impede optimal allocation of financial resources and increase moral hazard.”