The Malhotra Committee of 1993 dealt with reform of which sector?

The correct answer is A, the Hilton Young Commission. The Royal Commission on Indian Currency and Finance, known after its chairman as the Hilton Young Commission, reported in 1926 and recommended a central bank for India; the recommendation was carried out by the Reserve Bank of India Act of 1934, and the Reserve Bank began its operations on 1 April 1935. Option B, the Narasimham Committee, reported in 1991 and 1998 on the reform of the banking system that already existed, and crediting it with the creation of the Reserve Bank is the commonest error in this chapter. Option C, the Chakravarty Committee of 1985, reviewed the working of the monetary system. Option D, the Malhotra Committee of 1993, dealt with the insurance sector and led to the setting up of the insurance regulator.

The correct answer is A, reform of the banking and financial system. The Committee on the Financial System of 1991, chaired by M. Narasimham, came at the start of liberalisation and recommended lower statutory liquidity and cash reserve ratios, prudential norms for income recognition and provisioning, the classification of assets as standard, sub-standard, doubtful and loss, a capital adequacy requirement and a four-tier banking structure; the second Narasimham report of 1998 added mergers of strong banks, narrow banking for weak ones and asset reconstruction companies. Option B, reform of the insurance sector, belongs to the Malhotra Committee of 1993. Option C, capital account convertibility, belongs to the Tarapore Committee of 1997 and 2006. Option D, digital payments, belongs to the Nandan Nilekani Committee of 2019, which is a far more recent report.

The correct answer is A, the Tarapore Committee. The committee chaired by S. S. Tarapore reported in 1997 and again in 2006 on capital account convertibility, that is the freedom to convert the rupee for capital transactions, and it set out preconditions such as fiscal consolidation, a low rate of inflation, a strengthened banking system and a low level of non-performing assets. Option B, the Verma Committee of 1999, examined the restructuring of weak public sector banks. Option C, the Ghosh Committee of 1992, reported on frauds and malpractices in banks. Option D, the Goiporia Committee of 1991, reported on customer service in banks, a subject revisited by the Damodaran Committee of 2011. The rupee is already convertible on the current account, so the whole debate this committee addressed is about the capital account.

The correct answer is B, the Nachiket Mor Committee. The committee on comprehensive financial services for small businesses and low-income households, chaired by Nachiket Mor, reported in 2014 and proposed differentiated banking licences; from its work the Reserve Bank issued guidelines for payments banks, which may accept deposits but not lend, and for small finance banks, which lend mainly to small borrowers. Option A, the P. J. Nayak Committee of 2014, reported on the governance of bank boards and proposed a bank investment company for the government's shareholding. Option C, the Khan Working Group of 1998, dealt with harmonising the roles of development financial institutions and banks, the idea of universal banking. Option D, the Vaghul Committee of 1987, reported on the money market. Two committees of the same year are the trap here, so attach Mor to licences and Nayak to boards.

The correct answer is A, the Urjit Patel Committee. The expert committee of 2014 chaired by Urjit Patel was asked to revise and strengthen the monetary policy framework; it recommended that consumer price inflation be made the nominal anchor, that a numerical inflation target be adopted, and that policy decisions be taken by a committee rather than by one person, which led to flexible inflation targeting and the Monetary Policy Committee. Option B, the Bimal Jalan Committee of 2019, reported on the economic capital framework of the Reserve Bank, that is how much capital the central bank should hold. Option C, the Deepak Mohanty Committee of 2015, set out a medium-term path for financial inclusion. Option D, the Tandon Committee of 1974, fixed the norms for working capital finance and belongs to an entirely different era of banking.