Government won’t interfere with regulators: Pranab Mukherjee

Asserting that the regulators of various sectors will have to face no intervention from the government except in some cases of overlap, finance minister Pranab Mukherjee said that the government too has no intention of interfering with the autonomy of the regulators.

“I tried to clarify unambiguously that there are various regulators for different sectors. Irda is for insurance sector, Sebi is for the markets, PFRDA is to regulate the pension funds and the RBI is for banking sector. RBI, for instance, takes care of the monetary issues and also advises the government on the monetary policies. But, it also has a regulatory role on the banks.

The government stand is very clear that the regulators will enjoy the autonomy which has been given to them by the Act passed by the Parliament,” he said, responding to a query on the issues related to the regulatory overlap and the finance ministry behaving as a super regulator.

“If there is a conflict between the two regulators in an area of hybrid product then the joint mechanism, which has been established by issuing an ordinance, will come into picture. They (the regulators) will come together to decide which regulator has the jurisdiction. Except in this limited area, there is no intention for the government to interfere in the autonomy of the regulators,” Mukherjee said on the sidelines of a South Zonal Committee (SZC) meeting in Hyderabad.

On the forex reserves, which are believed to be high primarily due to the revaluation of gold, the FM said, “Forex is quite comfortable and I am not at all worried so far the flow of the forex is concerned. The inflows are under manageable levels.”

According to the FM, the government is gearing up for providing food security to all in the country and the Food Security Act is being prepared in consultation with all the stakeholders.

“We are committed to enact the Food Security Act. This exercise is going on. We have received suggestions from various stake holders. We have asked the Planning Commission to give us the total number of below poverty line families based on the latest census and that number would form the basis for the Act.”

However, expressing concerns over the availability of food grains in the country, he said, “The current food grain production is at 225-230 million tones. Since the population is growing, the production levels will have to go up. That’s the reason we have suggested to extend the green revolution to the eastern region and dedicate 60,000 villages as pulses and edible oil villages and provided Rs 300 crore for that. These issues will be taken up on mission mode by the agriculture ministry".

However, the FM said that the rise in inflation is no longer due to the food items.