Rajeshwar Rao: Self-regulation in financial markets – looking back and looking ahead

Keynote address by Mr Rajeshwar Rao, Deputy Governor of the Reserve Bank of India, at the 17th Foreign Exchange Dealers' Association of India (FEDAI) Annual Conference, Cairo, 9 March 2023. 

The views expressed in this speech are those of the speaker and not the view of the BIS.

1. A very good morning to all of you. It is indeed a pleasure to be here amidst all of you today at the 17th annual conference of FEDAI. These annual events of FEDAI provide an excellent opportunity for the exchange of ideas and thoughts among the foreign exchange market participants and I am sure this one will be no exception.

2. Today, as I speak to the market veterans assembled here in Cairo, it strikes me that it is fitting perhaps that this conference is being held here in the year of India's G20 presidency, the year of the "Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam" or "One Earth · One Family · One Future". India and Egypt are arguably two of the world's oldest civilizations. Both share a glorious past.

3. India was one of the largest economies in the world for about two millennia starting around the end of the 1st millennium BC. Documented economic history suggests that for most of the period since the first century AD, the Indian economy was the largest in the world. At the beginning of the British rule in India, it accounted for close to a quarter share of global GDP. Since then, there has been an inexorable loss in India's share of global GDP. But we have not just arrested this decline, but indeed have been able to reverse it. India's GDP is today the third-largest in the world in PPP terms and fifth largest in terms of market exchange rates. India is today considered as one of the fastest growing economies of the world with clear emphasis on strong macroeconomic fundamentals and is recognised as one of the few bright spots amidst current challenges and uncertainties.