Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman has said, some of the free trade agreements with other nations have not helped exporters from the country in a proportionate manner.

Delivering the G.Ramachandran Memorial Lecture organized by the Southern Indian Chamber of Commerce and Industry last evening in Chennai, she said the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership RCEP is also not meeting the aspirations of the nation, which is why India did not join the regional grouping.

Referring to reports of scams in certain cooperative banks, Ms Nirmala Sitharaman said the Reserve Bank of India has begun to take initiatives to strengthen further its supervisory and regulatory roles. She observed that most of the banks in India have overcome the problem of huge Non-Performing Assets that were built in the past. She said, that government is making efforts to ensure better regulatory mechanism in the banking sector.

The Finance Minister said, discussions were held with the rating agencies about credibility in the rating process, as there were occasions when even highly rated firms fell through in a matter of months.

On the automobile sector, she said, the Supreme Court had fixed a time limit of just two years to improve upon the emission norms and therefore the Union Government had to set the emission standards for new vehicles from Bharat Stage-Four to Six, skipping the stage-five.