compared with 9. 2 per cent in the corresponding period of the previous year, mainly due to capital inflows. the bulk of the inflows have been sterilised through open market operations ( omo ) including the liquidity adjustment facility ( laf ). this is reflected in contraction of net rbi credit to the government by rs. 88, 698 crore ( up to march 26, 2004 ), substantially offsetting the pressures on monetary expansion emanating from external sector. aggregate deposits of scheduled commercial banks have expanded by 17. 3 per cent up to march 19, 2004. non - food credit expansion in 2003 - 04 has been of the order of 17. 6 per cent, which though slightly lower than 18. 6 per cent growth ( adjusted for mergers ) seen a year before, is in line with expectations set out in the april 2003 policy. the year 2003 - 04 began with a slack in credit offtake that persisted during the first five months. credit expansion in subsequent months has been quite vigorous. as a result, rs. 1, 19, 684 crore incremental credit has been made available in the full year against rs. 99, 448 crore in the year before. in fact, since september 2003, non - food credit expansion has been higher by 38 per cent than in the corresponding period of the previous year. credit expansion in 2003 - 04 appears to have been led by the housing and retail sectors. this has helped generate new demand for consumer durables, basic and intermediate products, as also new services. the resulting pickup in consumer demand seems to have improved production activity. industrial credit has also expanded since september 2003, although at a slower pace. slower industrial credit expansion this year, in part, reflects the shift in corporate financing pattern in recent years with increased reliance on internal financing alongside increasing accent on external borrowing. a significant feature of the credit growth this year has been the substantial flow of bank credit to the priority sector which showed an increase of rs. 33, 720 crore or about 16 per cent in the first 10 months of 2003 - 04, for which data are presently available. bank credit for housing had increased by 33 per cent, while that for infrastructure by 25 per cent in the same period. financial markets and external developments the financial markets have continued to remain generally stable. the call money rate declined from 6. 3 per cent at end - march 2003 to 4. 3 per cent by end - march 2004. reflecting the easy liquidity conditions

k c chakrabarty : financial consumer protection inaugural address by dr k c chakrabarty, deputy governor of the reserve bank of india, at the reserve bank of india – bank of france seminar on “ consumer protection ”, organized at the college of agricultural banking, pune, 22 march 2013. * * * assistance provided by shri d g kale in preparation of this address is gratefully acknowledged. 1. madam anne le lorier, first deputy governor, banque de france, senior executives from the banque de france, shri g. padmanabhan and smt. deepali pant joshi, executive directors and my other colleagues from the reserve bank of india, principal and the staff at college of agricultural banking, pune, participants to the seminar, ladies and gentlemen! at the outset, i extend a warm and hearty welcome to all of you, and especially to our guests from france, i say “ bienvenue ”. i am pleased to be here this morning to flag off a journey of joint - learning, discovery and exploration by rbi and bdf on a subject that has engaged the time and attention of governments, regulators, policy - makers, academics, ngos, consumers, etc. for the past three years and more and which quite aptly is also the theme of this seminar – “ consumer protection ”. we are privileged to have the first deputy governor, madam anne le lorier here and are sure that the seminar deliberations would be enriched by her presence. the seminar has been structured to cover various dimensions of consumer protection with separate sessions on building consumer awareness, customer rights and duties, emerging regulatory approach for consumer protection ( twin peaks ), legal aspects of consumer protection, etc. in view of the growing use of it in the financial sector, the seminar would also devote time to deliberate on consumer protection issues in retail and electronic payment systems and the impact of information technology on consumer protection. we also have sessions devoted to the co - operative sector and to linkages between financial inclusion / literacy and consumer protection. keeping in mind the exhaustive seminar schedule, i feel that my role here today is to set the tone for the seminar and this ; i intend to do by presenting a few random thoughts on various dimensions of consumer protection. introduction 2. it is, indeed, deplorable that in spite of access to financial services being universally recognized as an important ingredient to the growth and prosperity of people and nations, over half the adult population in the world