Reserve Bank India Governor Shaktikanta Das has said the Central bank will discuss the issuance of overseas sovereign bonds with the government.

Briefing media after the customary post-budget meeting of Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman with the RBI Central Board this afternoon, he said the system has sufficient liquidity and the Union Budget for 2019-20 has made provision for the shadow banking sector. He told that RBI is monitoring NBFCs and their operations at regular intervals.

The RBI Governor said the budget provision of 70,000 crore rupees towards bank capitalization is a very positive development that will help lenders not just comply with the regulatory requirement but also step up banking.

On interest rate transmission, he said, it used to take up to six months for an interest rate cut to be transmitted to consumers but things have improved and now it is taking a shorter time.

He also said that of the 50 basis points cut in interest rate announced by the RBI prior to the June monetary policy, about 21 basis points had been transmitted. He hoped for better transmission of interest rate cuts in the coming weeks and months.

Mr Das further said the Central bank’s internal team will assess the impact of prices of petrol and diesel on inflation in its Monetary Policy Committee meeting to be held in the first week of August.

Replying to a query on Centre raising part of market borrowing in the external market, the RBI Governor said the government has made a budget announcement and RBI will interact with Centre on the issue.

Mr Das also said that fiscal deficit has been improved from 3.4 to 3.3 per cent and RBI is happy about it. He said that overall it should be good for the macro-economic situation.