will start with the business community ’ s concerns over legal and regulatory risks. as i could see from your flyer, there is a slot to discuss this and a brief is given thereunder. while it talked about increasing risks faced by companies arising from complex regulatory enforcement and new legislation, it also pointed out, rightly, that, these were brought upon due to the corporate scandals and breakdowns in the past few years. this is also because organizations have been doing more business across boundaries than ever ; thus, adding global regulatory concerns to their local regulatory risks. so, we all understand and appreciate the concerns here – both of the law enforcers and of those who are subjected to these laws and regulations. oftentimes, we get to hear how difficult it is to do business in india. but multinationals, at various points of time, have had similar concerns over doing business elsewhere too. at the dld technology conference in munich recently, nicolas brusson, the co - founder of blablacar, the french ride - sharing start - up, when questioned about the rationale in starting his venture out of france with its 28 sets of laws and regulations, replied : “ when you start from france, everything looks simple ”. i am sure indian companies that ventured overseas in the last one decade or so may now vouch for these sentiments. in the current context, it may make immense sense to seriously look at the “ make in india ” pitch with the government trying to do what it can. we must understand that most of the times regulatory stance follows, rather than precede, the excesses committed by the regulated entities or the overreach of the so called selfregulatory mechanism. their actions in fact emanate from the very nature of the wider mandate that the regulators carry on their shoulders. in what is called as “ regulatory dialectics ”, financial market regulation is an endless process with both the regulator and the regulated making alternative moves in terms of regulation, avoidance and re - regulation. 2 this must be true of other markets, too. what guides the actions of regulators is the need to ensure smooth functioning and stability of the markets that they regulate and not populism. in other words, as john kay, the financial times columnist, often says, crowd - pleasing is no substitute for wise judgement. “ that ’ s why we prefer to entrust the navigation of a plane to a skilled pilot instead of using the average of the opinions of the passengers ”,

direct investment ( fdi ) flows continued over the last decade, with fdi becoming unrestricted except in certain sensitive / strategic sectors. limits for non - resident investments in domestic market markets were liberalised. the voluntary retention route ( vrr ) was introduced to facilitate non - resident investment in government and corporate bonds. a fully accessible route ( far ) which places no limit on non - resident investment in specified benchmark government securities was introduced as part of further liberalisation of portfolio debt inflows. the ecb framework was comprehensively liberalised and is now subject the directions on market making in otc derivatives which came into effect from january 2022 permitted market makers to offer a variety of derivative products to residents to efficiently design strategies to hedge their risks. subsequently, several new products, e. g., fx barrier option, binary option, targeted range forwards in the forex market and swaptions and total return swaps in the interest rate market have been introduced. only to an overall soft limit and a few “ end use ” restrictions. regulations for overseas direct investments ( odi ) have also been rationalised and liberalised. the lrs is now available for both current and capital account transactions. where do we stand today? 17. in the aftermath of multiple shocks, the global economy is projected to contract significantly in 2023. the worst for the global economy, both in terms of growth and inflation, seems to be behind us. lately, with some ebbing of covid - related restrictions and cooling of inflation in various countries, though still elevated, central banks have started what appears to be a pivot towards lower rate hikes or pauses. at the same time, they continue to emphatically reiterate their resolve to bring inflation down closer to targets. high policy rates for a longer duration appear to be a distinct possibility, going forward. on the growth front, projections are now veering around to a softer recession as against a severe and more widespread recession projected a few months back. 18. in this hostile and uncertain international environment, the indian economy remains resilient, drawing strength from its macroeconomic fundamentals. our financial system remains robust and stable. banks and corporates are healthier than before the crisis. bank credit is growing in double digits. india is widely seen as a bright spot in an otherwise gloomy world. our inflation remains elevated, but there has been a welcome softening during november and december 2022. core inflation, however, remains sticky and elevated