The new economic package and the agenda for restructuring the financial sector

Abstract

Jettisoning antiquated controls is the easier half of the process of market liberalization. The process of creating new regulatory mechanisms and institutions to deal with the resulting new structure of the financial sector is more difficult. In the light of the Finance Minister's proposal to set up a high power committee to review the financial system in its entirety, this article attempts to set in motion an intensive academic debate on the entire subject.

The authors discuss the impact of the recent economic policy package on various facets of the financial system and argue that the agenda for the proposed committee should include the integration of various financial markets, new instruments required for hedging risk, measures for investor protection, appropriate legislation, relevant tax reforms, development of financial infrastructure and the roles of regulatory agencies.