Report of the High Powered Expert Committee on Making Mumbai an International Financial Centre (Percy Mistry Report)

In the recent decade, India has made significant strides in the financial sector. Some of the important developments are strengthening of banks, de-regulation of interest rates and sector competition in the banking system, development of the government securities market, and infrastructure for trading, particularly on the equity market, with the move to electronic trading, novation at the clearing corporation, T + 2 rolling settlement, dematerialised settlement, demutualisation of stock exchanges and derivatives trading. This raises questions about how Mumbai can play a bigger role in the global market for financial services. Our current policy on capital account convertibility constrains the emergence of Mumbai as a financial centre. There is, however, a need to look ahead and prepare for the emergent role of Mumbai as a regional/international financial centre, so that our institutions get integrated with global institutions and economies in terms of provision of financial services. The committee was set up to explore the above issues.