nearly two centuries old and has perhaps the largest commercial database in the world. their website claims that they track over 265 million company records which they derive from 30, 000 data sources and is updated 5 million times per day. dnb ’ s own correspondents gather data on firms by visiting and telephoning the firm ’ s principals. it is interesting to note that in the 19th century, these correspondents who were often lawyers, included such luminaries as abraham lincoln, woodrow wilson and calvin coolidge ( ref. j. g. kallberg, g. f. udell / journal of banking & finance 27 ( 2003 ) 449 – 469 ). 21. let me give a real life example to illustrate the utility of such information systems. in the aftermath of the collapse of lehman brothers in september 2008, there were economists who asserted that the credit flow in the united states was unaffected by pointing out to the robust credit growth in bank loans. but a deeper analysis of the thomson reuters dealscan data quickly revealed that the credit growth was almost entirely attributable to the corporates drawing down ( a form of a “ bank run ” ) on the existing credit lines. the origination of new loans had indeed dried up. how a public credit registry can help in india 22. let us now envisage how exactly a public credit registry can help in india. firstly, it is required to improve the credit culture in our country. it has been demonstrated in the ‘ doing business 2017 ’ report that credit information systems impart transparency in the credit market, following which access to credit improves and delinquencies decrease. at present, several indian banks burdened with mounting npas appear less confident in taking credit decisions. a transparent public credit registry would help the bankers to rely on objective data for making credit decisions and also enable them to defend their actions with market evidence when subjected to scrutiny. 23. second, large borrowers get a preference in credit markets due to their existing credentials in the public space. they have established credit history, brand value, and supply of collateral. in contrast, small and marginal aspirants, start - ups, new entrepreneurs, and small businesses in micro, small and medium enterprises ( msme ) sector are disadvantaged as they lack many of those desired qualifications for credit. transparency of credit information would serve as a 4 / 6 bis central bankers'speeches “ reputational collateral ” for such borrowers. this would not only help promote financial

should further support the euro area recovery. as for price developments, after hovering at levels well below 1 % for three years, with occasional dips into negative territory, euro area headline inflation has again edged higher towards the end of last year. headline inflation – slightly down from may – stands at 1. 3 % in june, according to eurostat ’ s flash estimate. the decrease mainly reflects a decline in energy inflation and to a smaller extent, food inflation, which more than offset an increase in hicp inflation excluding food and energy. underlying inflation – which relates more to domestic price pressures – continues to remain subdued, as unutilised resources still weigh on wage and price growth. in fact, the annual rate of hicp inflation excluding food and energy has mostly remained below, or around, 1 % since late 2013. today, an important element keeping underlying price pressures subdued is muted wage dynamics, which are shaped by many factors. besides weak productivity developments, the significant degree of remaining labour market slack acts to contain wage growth. when assessing slack, it can prove useful to also look at broader measures than the unemployment rate. the so - called “ u6 measure ” captures unemployment, underemployment ( meaning workers who would like to work more hours ) and marginal attachment, namely those workers that are not competing very actively in the labour market, e. g. because they are not available to start a new job on short notice. this measure currently covers 18 % of the labour force in the euro area, and is thus considerably higher than the unemployment rate. 5 furthermore, the process of setting wages is to some extent backward - looking in a number of euro area countries, reflecting formal and informal indexation mechanisms. 6 overall, we are certainly seeing a firming, broadening and more resilient economic recovery. the economic upturn seems to have gathered some further momentum. real activity is expanding more strongly than previously expected and risks to the growth outlook are now broadly balanced. this clearly puts our confidence in the recovery on a stronger footing and has made very adverse scenarios for the inflation outlook less likely, in particular as deflation risks have largely vanished. as a consequence of this change in the risk assessment, the governing council decided to remove its reference to lower interest rates from its forward guidance on policy rates at the meeting in june. 2 / 3 bis central bankers'speeches as the economic prospects brighten, higher expected returns on business investment will make borrowing conditions increasingly attractive. this, as