, the west european countries strived for deeper european integration, for a united europe. the reasons for this were many and varied. securing peace within europe was undoubtedly the dominant rationale. bis central bankers ’ speeches the relationship between european neighbours france and germany played a key role in this context. hostility between the two nations, be it overt or latent, had persisted for centuries. this so - called “ franco - german enmity ” was surmounted in the wake of the devastating second world war and developed over time into a franco - german friendship, an engine driving the process of european unification and integration. however, belonging to a community of values was of particular importance to germany following the hitler dictatorship and the holocaust. konrad adenauer, the first chancellor of the federal republic of germany, expressed this as follows : “ the unity of europe was the dream of a few. it became the hope of many. today it has become a necessity for all of us. ” but there was also a desire to sustainably improve europe ’ s economic prosperity. it is not incidental that european integration began by stepping up economic integration. after the second world war ended, progress was made on various fronts, culminating initially in the single european market. the foundations of this single european market were the “ four basic freedoms ” : the free movement of people, goods, services and capital. but it became evident at an early stage that economic integration in europe could only really take off if it was accompanied by a stable single currency. as far back as the start of the 1970s, there existed a plan to establish a european economic and monetary union that was to be fully implemented by 1980. ultimately, progress was not so rapid after all. no serious attempt to establish monetary union was made until jacques delors took over the presidency of the european commission in the late 1980s. the maastricht treaty was later signed by eu member states in 1992. 3. european monetary union and its regulatory framework in 1999, the long - cherished dream of european monetary union became true, marking a major step towards deeper european integration. introducing a single currency had tangible benefits. prices of goods could be more easily compared throughout the member states. exchange rate risk was eliminated and transaction costs fell. this in turn promoted trade, not only within the monetary union but also with the rest of the world. money and capital markets converged further. and, last but not least, the euro brought with it a period of remarkable price stability for the member

y v reddy : implementation of financial standards and codes : indian perspective and approach speech by dr yv reddy, deputy governor of the reserve bank of india, at the conference on international standards and codes organised by the imf - world bank, held in washington dc, 7 - 8 march 2001. the appendix mentioned by dr reddy can be obtained from the reserve bank of india. * * * in this paper it is proposed to describe the indian perspective and approach in regard to the implementation of international financial standards and codes advocated by the financial stability forum ( fsf ). the indian efforts in this direction also seek to complement and support the ongoing initiatives of the g - 20 aimed at encouraging implementation of standards and codes among member countries. the paper is schematized as follows. section i explains india ’ s stand on global initiatives for implementation of standards and codes. while section ii narrates india ’ s association with global efforts in evolving and promoting financial standards and codes, section iii describes the indian approach to the implementation. section iv mentions the institutional arrangements that have been put in place to guide the process of implementation. section v provides an account of the work processes followed by advisory groups in the course of preparation of reports. section vi indicates the current status, while section vii touches on the plans for following up on the submission of reports. section viii brings out some highlights of indian experience so far. i. india ’ s stand 1. 1 india is fully supportive of the need to observe certain minimum universally accepted standards in areas relevant to the maintenance of stability in the international monetary system, including increased transparency in formulation and implementation of monetary and financial policies and improvements in dissemination of relevant data. the establishment of a high - powered standing committee on international financial standards and codes ( standing committee ) underscores india ’ s commitment to this international enterprise. at the same time, india has been voicing, in the international fora, some of its concerns regarding the manner of international financial institutions spearheading the implementation and assessment of codes and standards. india advocates a voluntary approach, fair, equitable, and continuous process taking duly into account the institutional and legal structure and stage of development in different countries. 1. 2 although the notion of a code of good practices is intuitively appealing, the temptation to prescribe universally valid model codes which do not allow for differences in institutional development, legislative framework and, more broadly, different stages of development must be avoided. sometimes there is a tendency to recommend the practices of major industrial