Just 24 hours after Prime Minister Manmohan Singh sought to assuage the nation’s concerns about the global financial crisis, stating that India must be prepared for “a temporary slowdown” even as his government is working to minimise the impact of the crisis, Rajya Sabha’s Question Hour saw a flurry of posers by lawmakers to the finance ministry about the crisis its allied ailments. And more tricky questions are in the offing.

While most of the dozen-odd questions were about the generic impact of the financial crisis that began in the US, a few MPs sharply focused their queries on the nuanced implications of the crisis already seen in India like credit default swaps and forex derivatives–unusual terms for Parliament’s hallowed portals.

The first question about the crisis was listed by JD(U) MP from Begusarai Rajiv Ranjan Singh in the Lok Sabha for October 17, but the House was adjourned in a jiffy. This Friday, Congress MP from Dhule Bapu Hari Chaure has listed a ticklish starred question: whether the Indian government has decided to defer economic reforms in view of the current financial turmoil and if it proposes to reconsider banking, insurance and pension reforms.

While the finance ministry’s response to Chaure would be watched closely, Tuesday saw Congress MP from Andhra Pradesh T Ratna Bai lead the pack with three questions on the crisis, the most evocative one asking the finance minister if “it is a fact that there is a nightmare on Dalal Street”! Ratna Bai also had a starred question on the measures being taken by RBI to augment liquidity and if the outflow of portfolio funds is responsible for aggravating the rupee’s fall in recent months.

Senior BJP MP Najma Heptullah also raised two questions, along with the Samajwadi Party’s Mahendra Mohan, including a starred question that sought to know if forex derivatives losses “may well turn out to be the subprime crisis for India Inc” with potential “market-to-market”(sic) losses for corporates placed at Rs 120-200 billion.

Finance minister P Chidambaram’s reply that “forex derivative losses do not pose any systemic issue” had to be tabled as the House was adjourned. Filmmaker Shyam Benegal, a nominated MP in the Upper House, asked for daily transaction records of FIIs for the first quarter of 2008, as filed by custodians with Sebi and RBI. Benegal displayed his sensitivities by asking the data to be shared “after masking FII identity to ensure that investor privacy is not violated”.

The information Benegal sought was tabled in the House, but the BJP’s SS Ahluwalia’s question on credit default swap transactions was so elaborate that minister of state for finance Pawan Kumar Bansal had to respond with an assurance that the information would be collected and presented to the House. Ahluwalia not only wanted to understand the emergence of CDS and its distinctive features, but also bank-wise and institution-wise data for the last three years and outstanding CDS deals by September.

The CPI’s D Raja had a short and sweet question about the US financial crisis, while Shiv Sena’s Sanjay Raut wanted clarity on “scams” in private and foreign banks. The Telugu Desam Party’s C Ramachandraiah was as concerned about the Dalal Street nightmare as Ratna Bai. But he wanted clear-cut answers: what is the projected financial burden and loss to both India’s economy and stock market, even how many financial companies will go bankrupt.

The ministry’s response: only 2% of Indians have exposure to stock market losses and, of course, there is no reason for anxiety, as the PM has already stated.

source: Financialexpress

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