India seeks FSAP by IMF and World Bank

"We have voluntarily sought a full-fledged Financial Sector Assessment Programme to be conducted by the IMF and the World Bank", Mukherjee told the International Financial Conference at IIM here.

He said that FSAP was an international evaluation exercise where the financial sector was assessed by institutions like IMF and World Bank.

Mukherjee said that India did a self-assessment of its financial sector in 2009.

The finance minister said that it was found that India was compliant with most of the internationally accepted standards in banking, securities markets and insurance sector.

Mukherjee said that the global crisis had offered an opportunity to review the approach to financial sector reforms.

"The government is committed to take the reforms process forward", he said.

He also said that the government had also decided to set up a Financial Sector Legislative Reforms Commission to rewrite and clean up the financial sector laws.

Talking about the economy, Mukherjee said that surge in capital inflows, inflation and hardening of global commodity prices were matters of concern.

He said that although India witnessed a robust growth, several countries witnessed the sovereign debt crisis.

"We are hopeful that 2011 may see a recovery in the world economy," he said.

He said that although the first two quarters saw a good growth in GDP, inflation remained a major source of concern.

Mukherjee, however, said that exports had picked up and the trade imbalance was reducing.

The finance minister said that there was a need to promote financial stability in view of the meltdown which crippled the world economy.