RBI Audit
PLEASE READ MY MONEYLIFE ARTICLE ON “STRENGTHENING
RBI BALANCE SHEET” POSTED ON MAY 22, 2013 ALSO.
MG WARRIER
Finance Ministry appoints auditors without
consulting RBI, step aimed at avoiding conflict of interest
By Dheeraj
Tiwari & Rohini Singh, ET Bureau | 20 May, 2013, 05.51AM IST
Finance
Ministry appoints auditors without consulting RBI, step aimed at avoiding
conflict of interest
The two auditors appointed by the government are V Sankar Aiyar & Co and Haribhakti & Co.
A senior government official confirmed the development, explaining that the decision not to consult with RBI was taken to avoid what he described as a "conflict of interest".
"It was not a good corporate governancepractice," the official said.
A detailed email sent to RBI on the selection process and seeking confirmation on the names of the selected auditors did not elicit any response till the time of filing this story.
The decision was taken earlier this month, say officials familiar with the development. Formal appointment letters will be issued soon, they said.
A senior official with one of the CA firms appointed as auditors confirmed the appointment.
"We are yet to get the (formal) appointment letter from RBI, so we are not in a position to comment," the auditor said, requesting anonymity.
RBI and the finance ministry have appeared to be at odds over many issues in recent months, notably over the conduct of monetary policy with senior ministry officials often seemingly discontented over the pace of interest rate cuts by the central bank. There is also a less high-profile difference over dividends declared by RBI out of its profits.
In the 2013-14 budget, the government has assumed 43,996 crore in dividends from the Reserve Bank of
Finmin expects more dividend
Finance Minister P Chidambaram had earlier said there is a point of view that RBI can give more dividend as it has a very large income. "It puts it away in many reserves wisely but surely they have the capacity to pay us more by way of dividend," he had said.
In 2011-12, the central bank had paid a dividend of 16,010 crore to the government. Some experts say the central bank needs high reserves to manage its market operations better. The official quoted earlier said the decision to appoint auditors without consulting the RBI is not related to dividends.
"This has nothing to do with arm-twisting RBI to give more dividend," said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity. The finance ministry has been reviewing RBI's balance sheet over the past year. In 2012, the ministry had reviewed the expenditure and reserves position of RBI after the central bank indicated it was not in position to pay interest on the reserves that banks maintain with it.
The finance ministry had then suggested that RBI should pay 7% interest on the mandatory percentage of deposits banks have to park with the central bank, called the cash reserve ratio ( CRR).
The ministry had pitched it as a measure to help lower rates even if the central bank does not ease monetary policy. It had argued that major central banks either do not mandate a reserve ratio or pay interest on the mandatory reserves they ask banks to set aside.
Under the existing mechanism for the appointment auditors, the CAG provides a list of CA firms eligible for appointment as statutory central auditors. In case of RBI, two central auditors and four local auditors were being appointed by the finance ministry in consultation with RBI.
M G WARRIER (Thiruvananthapuram)
9 Hours ago
Following certain
tradition, our Constitution and some legislations provide for prior consultation,
in certain matters before GOI decide, with some statutory bodies like CAG and
RBI. In the instant case, suggesting two names and awaiting RBI confirmation is
as good as consultation, as this gives opportunity to RBI to express views if
they have different views. The second issue, namely the one relating to
transfer of surplus income/profit by RBI and PSUs tagged to this, is an
entirely different one. A greedy FM is trying to coerce GOI-owned bodies to
manipulate their accounts or bring down reserves to plug holes in
governmentâ??s own balance sheet. The present method of â??budgetingâ?? huge
receipts from PSUs and statutory bodies in advance and forcing the
organisations to pay is an unethical practice.
Comments