The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) is examining whether a part of banks’ investment in government securities (SLR) can be considered for the purpose of calculating liquidity under the Basel III regulatory norms, aimed at preventing a recurrence of 2008 like financial crisis. The first sign that central bank may dilute the Basel III norms on capital and liquidity comes in backdrop of strong opposition of the banking industry.
Basel-III norms prescribe banks to build a liquidity coverage ratio. However, banks in India are already mandated to maintain the minimum liquidity at 23 per cent of net demand and time liabilities as the Statutory Liquidity Ratio (SLR) under RBI norms.
Hence, as per the central bank’s governor, Anand Sinha, redefining liquidity coverage ratio will not make a substantial change in the Indian context since banks are mandated to own 23% of their deposits in government bonds, but cannot be traded. Further, the deputy governor also pointed out the concern that banks might raise lending rates to compensate for the increase in cost of capital.
The guidelines that would come into effect in a phased manner starting January 1 next year, would have to be fully implemented by March 31, 2018. Further, Sinha underscored that, there have been studies by the Basel-III committee that the macroeconomic impact of new regulations are modest if the implementation is phased over a transition period.
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