Malhotra asks RBI staff to persist in calibrating regulations, focus on customer centricity in new year

Mumbai, Dec 31 (PTI) Governor Sanjay Malhotra on Wednesday asked the Reserve Bank staff to persist with regulatory calibrations and sharpen supervision in the new year.

In his annual message to staffers, Malhotra said customer centricity and financial inclusion "must remain at the heart" of the central bank's work.

"We must persist with strengthening the monetary policy framework, sharpening supervision, calibrating regulation, deepening financial markets, and improving payments and currency management," Malhotra said in the message.

The RBI staff must sharpen their knowledge, enhance their analytical capabilities, embrace technology, and continuously make improvements in processes, he added.

Malhotra, a career bureaucrat who recently completed a year at the helm of the RBI, told the staff that their responsibilities will continue to expand in the new year, which will be marked by a rapidly evolving economic and financial landscape shaped by technological change, geoeconomic shifts, and rising public expectations.

"The Reserve Bank's strength has always flowed from its people and from a shared belief that our work, though often unseen, makes a meaningful difference to the nation," he added.

The times call for technical excellence, but also a commitment to the central bank's "core institutional values" of integrity, independence, efficiency, humility and a deep sense of public service, Malhotra said.

Reflecting on 2025, Malhotra said a complex global backdrop marked by geopolitical uncertainties, uneven growth and volatile financial markets marked the year.

"In this challenging environment, our policy interventions were calibrated to balance stability with growth while ensuring that the banking and the financial sectors continue to support our nation's development aspirations," he said.

Listing out some successes, Malhotra pointed to putting in place a structured framework for the formulation of regulations, progress in simplification of the regulatory architecture by consolidating a large number of regulatory instructions and also improvements in internal governance at the RBI.

"A vital dimension of our work this year was the emphasis on customer service and grassroots engagement," he said. PTI AA BAL BAL