of export receivables against import payables, etc. under the fema regulations ) has been a cause of concern. keeping these issues in view, a technical committee ( chairman : shri. g padmanabhan ) was constituted by the reserve bank. the committee has looked into the entire gamut of facilities / services provided by banks / financial institutions { including the exim bank, export credit and guarantee corporation ( ecgc ) & small industries development bank of india ( sidbi ) }, such as, export credit, in indian rupee as well as foreign currency, hedging instruments, factoring services, insurance coverage, etc. and suggested several important recommendations for implementation by the banks. 16. as on march 31, 2013, there were 285 overseas offices of indian banks abroad spread across 55 countries. such widespread network of branches can be tapped for providing useful inputs to the indian exporters for exploring new markets and creating a niche in the untapped economies. attracting investment into the country, especially in the form of foreign direct investments, is crucial for enhancing the technology - led production capacity and managerial expertise. another area which the banks need to explore is tapping the indian diaspora. as you are aware, india is one of the largest recipients of inward remittances, receiving approximately us $ 69 billion in 2012, 2 and this would not have been possible but for the connect of the indian migrants with the country and efforts of indian banks. i would, however, expect banks to be more proactive and innovative in developing new products for the non - resident indians and ease the processes in timely transfer and credit of remitted funds. this is more critical from the point of view of banks in kerala as the state is one of the largest recipients of remittances. 17. in the present context of high cad, i intend to highlight the concerns of rising import of gold. the three sources of demand for gold are consumption, investment and speculative. reserve bank has observed that while the growth in consumption demand, primarily driven by households, remained moderate, the demand for gold driven by investment and speculative motive has grown rapidly. the rising demand for gold is a cause of concern because of the management of cad & financial stability and the larger issue of consumer protection. reserve bank has also been concerned with the aggressive selling of gold and extending loans against gold. banks should refrain from aggressive selling of gold coins as such an activity should not be construed as the core business activity

cross border spill over impact of their domestic policies, and second, what is the framework of rules that should govern currency interventions in the face of volatile capital flows. protectionism 18. in the post - crisis world, there may not actually be “ deglobalization ” but the earlier orthodoxy that globalization is an unmixed blessing is being increasingly challenged. the rationale behind globalization was, and hopefully is, that even as advanced countries may see some low end jobs being outsourced, they will still benefit from globalization because for every low end job gone, another high end job – that is more skill intensive, more productive – will be created. if this does not happen rapidly enough or visibly enough, protectionist pressures will arise, and rapidly become vociferous and politically compelling. the efforts of several countries around the world to resist currency appreciation are a manifestation of protectionist pressures. 19. there is concern in some quarters that while open protectionism has been resisted relatively well during the current crisis, opaque protectionism has been on the rise. opaque protectionism takes the form of resorting to measures such as anti - dumping actions, safeguards, preferential treatment of domestic firms in bailout packages and discriminatory procurement practices. experience shows that countries resort to restrictive trade practices in areas not covered by multilateral rules or by exploiting the lack of specificity in certain rules. to strengthen multilateral trade discipline, the need for a quick conclusion of the doha round can hardly be overemphasized. in a world with growing worries about the debt creating stimulus packages, a doha round agreement should be welcomed as a non - debt creating stimulus to the global economy. international monetary system 20. the global crisis has revived the familiar concerns about the robustness of the international monetary system. the system we now have is that the us dollar is the world ’ s reserve currency by virtue of the dominant size of the us economy, its share in global trade, the preponderant use of dollar in foreign trade and foreign exchange transactions and a host of other intangible factors. the us has met the obligation of an issuer of reserve currency by running fiscal and external deficits while enjoying the comfort of not having to make the necessary adjustment to bridge the deficits. such persistent deficits of a dominant economy can potentially create imbalances at the global level as indeed happened in the build up to the crisis. while the us took care of the supply side of the reserves, the