RBI Governor Urjit Patel may have to answer some tough questions on Thursday, as the members of the Finance Standing Committee of Parliament are preparing to grill him on demonetisation.

Patel will brief the panel on “Demonetisation of Indian currency notes of ₹500 and ₹1,000 and the impact thereof”. This will be the first time Patel will be appearing before a Parliamentary panel since demonetisation.

The winter session of Parliament, which concluded last week, could not take up the issue for discussion as the Opposition demanded Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s statement on the issue inside the House. The 31-member committee, headed by veteran Congress MP Veerappa Moily, is likely to witness detailed deliberations on the subject.

Though the ruling BJP has majority in the panel, senior Opposition members such as former prime minister Manmohan Singh, Digvijaya Singh, Satish Chandra Mishra, Saugata Roy and Naresh Gujral are members of the panel. Manmohan Singh had made a speech in the Rajya Sabha criticising the Centre’s demonetisation decision.

A senior member in the panel said members have already started preparing questions to Patel.

“There are a number of issues that are unanswered. What triggered this decision? How prepared the RBI was? By what date will the RBI be able to provide enough notes to the public? What action will be taken against erring officials who helped black money hoarders to launder notes? What is the percentage of black money in the economy? The questions are endless. We do not know to what extent Patel will be able to clear our doubts and apprehensions,” the leader added.

Another MP said the frequent notifications by the RBI will also be questioned by the members. “There were more than two dozen notifications in a month’s time. It showed that the RBI was losing the authority over taking monetary policy decisions,” the member added. The panel will also hear from the Banking Secretary, Revenue Secretary and the Finance Secretary on the matter.

The Public Accounts Committee (PAC) of Parliament has also asked Patel to appear before it in the second week of January on this issue. The PAC will study demonetisation’s impact on the economy.

Former RBI Governor Raghuram Rajan had also appeared before the panel on the issue of non performing assets some months ago. The MPs had asked him about the monetary committee panel formed by the Finance Ministry.

Some of the MPs were concerned whether the formation of the committee will undermine the RBI’s authority. Rajan had told the panel that it would help in effective functioning of the RBI.

Related Topics