The central banks of India and Poland discussed the current macroeconomic situation and monetary policy challenges, President of the National Bank of Poland Marek Belka said today.

"We discussed the macroeconomic situation and challenges to monetary policy both for India and for Poland. Even if we are so different, some challenges for emerging economic like ours are quite similar," said Belka, who is visiting India on the invitation of RBI Governor D Subbarao.

He was talking to reporters on the sidelines of a seminar on 'Emerging Business and Investment Opportunities in Poland' organised by industry chamber Ficci.

When asked about banking opportunities for Polish banks in other countries, Belka said banks in his country are mostly subsidiaries of foreign banks so there was little scope for them to go abroad.

"Most polish banks are subsidiaries of foreign banks. So, this is not so much a decision of Polish banks to go overseas. ...And I wouldn't see Polish players/Polish financial companies to be interested going dynamically abroad," he added.

However if the banking opportunities develop, he said, Poland would be interested in 'correspondent banking'.

"We need correspondent banks.... Of course (we need) certain Indian banks in Poland and polish banks in India to facilitate business," he added.

A correspondent bank is a financial institution that provides services on behalf of another financial institution and is used to conduct business in foreign countries.