Speeches & Media Interactions

Ladies and gentlemen, Good Morning. At the outset, let me thank the organisers for inviting me to deliver the keynote address at this milestone event and congratulate Trans Union CIBIL (TU CIBIL) on its 25th anniversary. Credit reporting and TU CIBIL have grown together in India and the company has made a significant contribution in expanding the footprint of credit reporting in the country.

1. Chairman of the Board of Governors, Director of the Institute, Prof and Padma Shree Manindra Agrawal, winner of numerous awards, who was my senior here and who I hold in very high esteem, faculty members, staff, proud parents, family and friends of the graduating students, distinguished guests, and my dear graduating students, alumni, ladies and gentlemen.

Distinguished guests, participants, ladies and gentlemen, Good evening. At the outset, let me thank the organisers for inviting me to share some of my thoughts on the theme of financial inclusion. Before that, let me take a moment to acknowledge that today i.e., June 05, 2025, is the World Environment Day, an UN-recognized day that brings together people across the globe in a shared mission to safeguard and restore our planet. This year’s theme of ending plastic pollution is a call to all of us to make a behavioural shift in our daily life choices. In the spirit of preserving the purity of our environment and safeguarding our well-being, let us commit toward making more sustainable choices.

Distinguished guests, participants, ladies and gentlemen, Good afternoon At the outset, let me thank the organisers for inviting me and giving me an opportunity to deliver the valedictory address and share some of my thoughts on a subject which continues to engage national as well as global attention. I believe there would have been fruitful deliberations on the topics of green and sustainable finance and the role of financial institutions, opportunities and challenges, aligning of regulatory and policy worlds, facilitating global financing, and integration of climate change aspects in credit risks of the financial institutions. Each of these topics require detailed deliberations and collectively they form the building blocks for creation of a robust ecosystem for green and sustainable finance for the economy and financial system at large.

Introduction

Good Morning All!

I thank IIM, Kozhikode and the National Stock Exchange for inviting me to deliver the inaugural address at this Conference. The theme for the conference— “Finance for Growth Amid Creative Disruptions”—captures the essence of the transformation we are witnessing in the financial sector – not just in India but globally. Disruptions in finance are not new, but what sets this era apart is the unprecedented pace and scale of change, fuelled by digitalization, artificial intelligence, and the resulting confluence of these changes leading to emergence of new business models. These changes make it essential for us to understand how to harness them for sustainable economic growth.

Good Morning Ladies and Gentlemen. At the outset, I would like to thank Shri Ravi Mital, Chairperson, Insolvency and Bankruptcy Board of India for inviting me to this international conclave on the theme ‘Insolvency Resolution: Evolution & Global Perspective’ being held in collaboration with INSOL India. A confluence in the thought processes of policy makers, practitioners and academicians would perhaps help to shape an objective assessment of the resolution & insolvency regime in the country. This should then enable us to chart out a future path for the resolution processes to make it more effective and efficient.

Distinguished Guests, Ladies, and Gentlemen, Good Morning. Let me, at the outset, thank the organisers for inviting me here to share my thoughts on climate change, one of the most critical issues we face, not just as individuals, but as the collective global community. 2. As per the latest report from the Copernicus Climate Change Service’s , the year 2024 will be the warmest year in the ERA5 reanalysis dataset, going back to 1940. This was also estimated to be the second-warmest October globally, after October 2023 with the average temperatures 1.65ºC above the pre-industrial level while also marking it the 15th month in a 16-month period where average temperatures were above the 1.5ºC threshold set by the Paris Agreement. Thus, the writing on the wall seems to tell us that unless we collectively take strong action, a grim future lies ahead. The recent tragic events, be it in Valencia, Spain, Wayanad, Kerala, or back-to-back hurricanes in USA, are stark reminders of the perils of climate change that the world at large is exposed to. It impacts our day-to-day lives in one form or other be it through heavy rainfall, flash floods, cyclones, droughts, melting of glaciers, loss of biodiversity, etc., and that too with increased frequency and severity. There can be no doubt therefore that climate change is going to be a major risk for the financial system, economy, and society at large with risks of severe catastrophic events putting at stake our very survival.

Governors and senior dignitaries from Central Banks, eminent participants, Ladies and Gentlemen, I am delighted to be amidst you all at the High-level conference on “Building synergies”, organised on this historic occasion as we celebrate the 90th year of our establishment. The conference is a part of our endeavour to develop a meaningful dialogue and foster cooperation on the issues confronting the Central banks of the global south. It gives me an opportunity to share my thoughts with you today, on paths traversed so far and some of the challenges we are likely to face as Regulators going forward. 

I am delighted to be present here today for this second Conference of Directors of the Private Sector Banks. As many of you would be aware, we had organised the first such Conference last year in the month of May on the theme – “Governance in Banks: Driving Sustainable Growth and Stability”. That interaction of the Reserve Bank with the Boards of Directors was very well-received with a strong feedback that such conferences be held on a periodic basis.

I am happy to be here today at the Macro Week 2024 organised by the Peterson Institute for International Economics (PIIE). The Institute has established itself as a leading forum, bringing together public policy practitioners, central bankers, industry leaders, research professionals and scholars to brainstorm on emerging macroeconomic issues. Such discussions, especially on the sidelines of the International Monetary Fund and World Bank meetings, provide fertile ground for rigorous and meaningful interactions on matters of contemporary policy relevance.