For the Big Fish

For the Big Fish THE Reserve Bank of India's monetary policy for the second half of 1994-95 is broadly on expected lines, in the traditional mould of stabilisation and adjustment programmes. The ostensible objective is to foster an environment of competition among economic agents, though in apronouncedly unequal set-up this cannot but end up pushing to the wall the smaller and more vulnerable institutions, howsoever relevant their role for a decentralised pattern of development. From the standpoint of many of the public sector banks and financial institutions, efforts to strengthen their internal viability needed to take precedence. This task is not going to be facilitated by the route adopted by the authorities of introducing interest rate competition in lending. Some of these institutions may eventually go under-at a time when the economy desperately needs more regionally dispersed financial and economic development.