RBI governor Bimal Jalan met finance minister Yashwant Sinha to discuss the issue on Wednesday. The meeting was also attended by revenue secretary Javed Choudhury. According to finance ministry sources, the meeting could not make much headway and the ministry has sought the opinion of the economic-advisory council on the bill. "It will take time for the bill to be passed as an act as the PMO will make the necessary changes only after getting the council's view. Besides, both the finance secretary as well as the revenue secretary are new entrants," sources said.

The union cabinet had cleared the money laundering and Fema bills in July. While Fema seeks to repeal the Foreign Exchange Regulation Act(Fera), Fema is meant to usher in a more liberal forex regime. However, the Reserve Bank has found some of the provisions of the money-laundering bill as "draconian" and wants the Centre to be more "flexible" on certain counts.

While Fema has largely been drafted by the RBI (with former deputy governor RV Gupta on the panel which drafted the bill), the money-laundering bill was by and large the finance ministry's creation.

The bill, aimed at checking black-money generation, aims at defining the gains of crime which will attract certain penal provisions, particularly the attachment and confiscation of properties and gains derived by crime.

The definition of crime, as per the draft, includes a series of crimes under the Indian Penal Code and certain crimes under the Prevention of Corruption Act, the Narcotics, Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act.

With the finance ministry referring the bill to the council, the 10-member body is expected toe play the role of referee in the tussle between the ministryand the country's central bank.

Headed by prime minister Atal Behari Vajpayee, the economic-advisory council comprises economist and former RBI governor IG Patel and former finance secretary Montek Singh Ahluwalia, PN Dhar, Arjun Sengupta, Kirit Parekh, Amaresh Bagchi, Ashok Desai, GV Ramakrishna and Brajesh Mishra.