RBI forms panel to improve data collection, eases investment rules

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has formed a committee under Executive Director Deepak Mohanty to review the current system of data collection and the feasibility of data production within the apex bank to reduce the burden on reporting entities.

This committee will recommend steps to deliver quality information to data users and reinforce the information system for monetary policymaking, the RBI said on Tuesday.

The panel is expected to submit its first report in four months from the day of its first meeting, it said.

In a separate release, the apex bank relaxed overseas investment rules by allowing resident Indians to issue tax-free, non-convertible bonds in rupees to foreigners and use those funds for lending to infrastructure or keeping in fixed deposits of banks pending utilisation.

Earlier such rupee funds borrowed from foreigners were not allowed for any investment or for re-lending.

Copyright @ Thomson Reuters 2013