Bangalore: Reserve Bank of India's deputy governor-designate, Rakesh Mohan indicated on July 12 in his new role, he would strive to give momentum to forward-looking reforms in the financial sector.

"I will carry on the process of stability in the financial sector as well as forward- looking reforms, whatever has to be done to make sure financial sector serves the needs of the country in all areas, like agriculture, industry and services and keep up with changes in the world," Mohan said.

"I feel very honoured," he said on the Union government appointing him to the post for a three-year period but added that he was "absolutely surprised" by the announcement.

Mohan, who was Economic Adviser to former Finance Minister Yashwant Sinha, said he would assume charge in the next four to six weeks. He would be taking over from Y V Reddy, who has been appointed as executive director, International Monetary fund (IMF).

Earlier, addressing a National Service Sector Conclave, organised by CII Institute of Quality, he exhorted banks and players in the insurance sector to cater to the rural segment, where he said there is going to be a huge demand for their products and services in the next ten to 15 years.

Insurance companies and banks need to look at rural market seriously and "it's in their own interest and they can make lot of money", he said, and suggested to the former to come out with low cost insurance for "not well-offs".

Mohan, who is currently CEO of the Indian Council for Research on International Economic Relations, said it was a wrong notion that India has a good higher-level education system.

"Even in the best of education institutions, like Indian Institute of Technologies, the standard of education, teaching and facilities has fallen. They are nowhere near what they used to be, the rest of the world has moved ahead," he commented.

Mohan stressed that India must look at attracting FDI in the services sector, 40 per cent of the world FDI takes place in services from the present approach of doing so only in manufacturing and industry.

Expressing the view that the growth of the services sector depended on that of the manufacturing one, he stressed, "Something needs to be done to revive the manufacturing sector."

The two-day conclave, which began on July 12, consisted of four parallel seminars on healthcare services, education services, financial services and connecting people and markets.

"The conclave will provide a platform to highlight the current and future trends of this services sector, key growth areas and quantify the amount of business opportunities and the vision for industry," CII said.

PTI