Overview
- The finance minister urged lenders to focus on deposits and lending rather than pushing insurance to borrowers.
- She cited complaints of customers being pressed to buy policies despite collateral or existing life, health and fire cover.
- Sitharaman pointed to a long-standing oversight gap between the RBI and IRDAI that allowed mis-selling to persist.
- RBI draft directions issued on February 11 mandate full refunds for mis-sold products and compensation for losses, with tougher conduct norms set to start on July 1 after feedback closes on March 4.
- RBI Governor Sanjay Malhotra flagged deposit growth near 12.5% and credit growth around 14.5%, adding that future rate moves will hinge on growth and inflation dynamics.