Speeches & Media Interactions

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. 

Good afternoon ladies and gentlemen, At the outset, let me thank the organisers for inviting me to deliver this address and convey my thoughts at this prestigious event. We, as central bankers, interact with various stakeholders on different occasions and diverse gatherings like this provide us an opportunity to reflect on issues which straddle not just the world of finance but also impinges on wider scheme of things. The idea is to flag issues which have wider ramifications beyond the conventional financial risks. Therefore, while I would dwell upon the Indian financial outlook, I would like to avail of this opportunity also to discuss on the issue of climate change and the role of financial entities in the transition process towards a more sustainable growth.

Ladies and gentlemen, a very good morning, I am happy to be here this morning and engage with you at this forum. Keeping in view the theme of the event, I thought it would be appropriate to discuss a few issues around the risk, compliance and internal audit, collectively known as assurance functions, as they help identify and manage risks for sustainable growth of financial entities. From a regulatory and supervisory perspective too, Reserve Bank attaches utmost important to the assurance function and therefore, to ensure that there is alignment between our perspectives and to communicate our expectations, we feel a continuing dialogue on this issue is extremely important.

I am delighted to be here today to convey my thoughts on the issue of statutory audit of commercial banks and AIFIs. In many ways, we, as Regulators/ Supervisors and you as Auditors, share a common goal. Auditors play a very crucial role in ensuring the health of the financial system as they assist in maintainance of regulatory oversight by ensuring that the financial statements present a true and fair picture of the affairs of the regulated entity. The statutory auditors play a significant role in maintaining stakeholder confidence in audited financial statements and this is particularly important in the case of banking industry where the entire edifice is built on ‘trust’ and the biggest external stakeholders, i.e., depositors are fragmented and unorganised. Therefore, the Reserve Bank has a strong interest in promoting sound and high quality accounting and disclosure standards for the banking and financial industry as well as in having transparent and comparable financial statements that strengthen market discipline