Reserve Bank of India

Facts

Preamble

The Preamble of the Reserve Bank of India describes the basic functions of the Reserve Bank as:

"...to regulate the issue of Bank Notes and keeping of reserves with a view to securing monetary stability in India and generally to operate the currency and credit system of the country to its advantage."

1935–1950

The Reserve Bank of India was founded on 1 April 1935 to respond to economic troubles after the First World War. The Reserve Bank of India was conceptualized based on the guidelines presented by the Central Legislative Assembly passed these guidelines as the RBI Act 1934. RBI was conceptualized as per the guidelines, working style and outlook presented by Dr B R Ambedkar in his book. It was titled “The Problem of the Rupee – Its origin and its solution” and presented to the Hilton Young Commission. The bank was set up based on the recommendations of the 1926 Royal Commission on Indian Currency and Finance, also known as the Hilton–Young Commission. The original choice for the seal of RBI was The East India Company Double Mohur, with the sketch of the Lion and Palm Tree. However, it was decided to replace the lion with the tiger, the national animal of India. The Preamble of the RBI describes its basic functions to regulate the issue of bank notes, keep reserves to secure monetary stability in India, and generally to operate the currency and credit system in the best interests of the country. The Central Office of the RBI was established in Calcutta (now Kolkata) but was moved to Bombay (now Mumbai) in 1937. The RBI also acted as Burma's central bank, except during the years of the Japanese occupation of a (1942–45), until April 1947, even though Burma seceded from the Indian Union in 1937. After the Partition of India in 1947, the bank served as the central bank for Pakistan until June 1948 when the State Bank of Pakistan commenced operations. Though set up as a shareholders’ bank, the RBI has been fully owned by the Government of India since its nationalization in 1949.

1950–1960

In the 1950s, the Indian government, under its first Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru, developed a centrally planned economic policy that focused on the agricultural sector. The administration nationalized commercial banks and established, based on the Banking Companies Act of 1949 (later called the Banking Regulation Act), a central bank regulation as part of the RBI. Furthermore, the central bank was ordered to support economic plan with loans.

1960–1969

As a result of bank crashes, the RBI was requested to establish and monitor a deposit insurance system. Meant to restore the trust in the national bank system, it was initialized on 7 December 1961. The Indian government founded funds to promote the economy, and used the slogan "Developing Banking". The government of India restructured the national bank market and nationalized a lot of institutes. As a result, the RBI had to play the central part in controlling and supporting this public banking sector.

1969–1985

In 1969, the Indira Gandhi-headed government nationalized 14 major commercial banks. Upon Gandhi's return to in 1980, a further 6 banks were nationalized. The regulation of the economy and especially the financial sector was reinforced by the Government of India in the 1970s and 1980s. The central bank became the central player and increased its policies for a lot of tasks like interests, reserve ratio and visible deposits. These measures aimed at better economic development and had a huge effect on the company policy of the institutes. The banks lent money in selected sectors, like agri-business and small trade companies.

The branch was forced to establish two new offices in the country for every newly established office in a town. The oil crises in 1973 resulted in increasing inflation, and the RBI restricted monetary policy to reduce the effects.

1985–1991

A lot of committees analysed the Indian economy between 1985 and 1991. Their results had an effect on the RBI. The Board for Industrial and Financial Reconstruction, the Indira Gandhi Institute of Development Research and the Security & Exchange Board of India investigated the national economy as a whole, and the security and exchange board proposed better methods for more effective markets and the protection of investor interests. The Indian financial market was a leading example for so-called "financial repression" (Mackinnon and Shaw). The Discount and Finance House of India began its operations in the monetary market in April 1988; the National Housing Bank, founded in July 1988, was forced to invest in the property market and a new financial law improved the versatility of direct deposit by more security measures and liberalisation.

1991–2000 the new century

The national economy contracted in July 1991 as the Indian rupee was devalued. The currency lost 18% relative to the US dollar, and the Narsimham Committee advised restructuring the financial sector by a temporal reduced reserve ratio as well as the statutory liquidity ratio. New guidelines were published in 1993 to establish a private banking sector. This turning point was meant to reinforce the market and was often called neo-liberal. The central bank deregulated bank interests and some sectors of the financial market like the trust and property markets. This first phase was a success and the central government forced a diversity liberalisation to diversify owner structures in 1998.

The National Stock Exchange of India took the trade on in June 1994 and the RBI allowed nationalized banks in July to interact with the capital market to reinforce their capital base. The central bank founded a subsidiary company—the Bharatiya Reserve Bank Note Mudran Private Limited—on 3 February 1995 to produce banknotes.

Since 2000

The Foreign Exchange Management Act from 1999 came into force in June 2000. It should improve the item in 2004–2005 (National Electronic Fund Transfer). The Security Printing & Minting Corporation of India Ltd., a merger of nine institutions, was founded in 2006 and produces banknotes and coins.

The national economy's growth rate came down to 5.8% in the last quarter of 2008–2009 and the central bank promotes the economic development.

Structure of RBI

The Central Board of Directors is the main committee of the Central Bank. The Government of India appoints the directors for a 4-year term. The Board consists of a Governor, and not more than 4 Deputy Governors, 4 Directors to represent the regional boards, 2 from the Ministry of Finance and 10 other directors from various fields. RBI wants to create a post of Chief Operating Officer (COO) and re-allocate work between the five of them(4 Deputy Governor and COO).

The bank is headed by the Governor and the post is currently held by economist Urjit Patel. There are 4 Deputy Governors BP Kanungo, S S Mundra, N S Vishwanathan and Viral Acharya. Two of the four Deputy Governors are traditionally from RBI ranks and are selected from the Bank's Executive Directors. One is nominated from among the Chairpersons of public sector banks and the other is an economist. An Indian Administrative Service officer can also be appointed as Deputy Governor of RBI and later as the Governor of RBI as with the case of Y. Venugopal Reddy. Other persons forming part of the central board of directors of the RBI are Dr. Nachiket Mor, Y C Deveshwar, Prof Damodar Acharya, Ajay Tyagi and Anjuly Duggal.

Branches and support bodies

The RBI has four zonal offices at Chennai, Delhi, Kolkata and Mumbai. It has 19 regional offices and 11 sub-offices. Regional offices are located in Ahmedabad, Bangalore, Bhopal, Bhubaneswar, Chandigarh, Chennai, Delhi, Guwahati, Hyderabad, Jaipur, Jammu, Kanpur, Kochi, Kolkata, Lucknow, Mumbai, Nagpur, Patna and Thiruvananthapuram and sub-offices are located in Agartala, Aizawal, Dehradun, Gangtok, Imphal, Panaji, Raipur, Ranchi, Shillong, Shimla and Srinagar.

The RBI has four regional representations: North in New Delhi, South in Chennai, East in Kolkata and West in Mumbai. The representations are formed by five members, appointed for four years by the central government and with the advice of the Central Board of Directors serve as a forum for regional banks and to deal with delegated tasks from the Central Board.

It has two training colleges for its officers, viz. Reserve Bank Staff College, Chennai and College of Agricultural Banking, Pune. There are three autonomous institutions run by RBI namely National Institute of Bank Management (NIBM), Indira Gandhi Institute of Development Research (IGIDR), Institute for Development and Research in Banking Technology (IDRBT). There are also four Zonal Training Centres at Mumbai, Chennai, Kolkata and New Delhi.

The Board of Financial Supervision (BFS), formed in November 1994, serves as a CCBD committee to control the financial institutions. It has four members, appointed for two years, and takes measures to strength the role of statutory auditors in the financial sector, external monitoring and internal controlling systems. The Tarapore committee was set up by the Reserve Bank of India under the chairmanship of former RBI deputy governor S.S.Tarapore to "lay the road map" to capital account convertibility. The five-member committee recommended a three-year time frame for complete convertibility by 1999–2000.

Financial Supervision

The primary objective of BFS is to undertake consolidated supervision of the financial sector comprising commercial banks, financial institutions and non-banking finance companies.

The Board is constituted by co-opting four Directors from the Central Board as members for a term of two years and is chaired by the Governor. The Deputy Governors of the Reserve Bank are ex-officio members. One Deputy Governor, usually, the Deputy Governor in charge of banking regulation and supervision, is nominated as the Vice-Chairman of the Board. The Board is required to meet normally once every month. It considers inspection reports and other supervisory issues placed before it by the supervisory departments.

BFS through the Audit Sub-Committee also aims at upgrading the quality of the statutory audit and internal audit functions in banks and financial institutions. The audit sub-committee includes Deputy Governor as the chairman and two Directors of the Central Board as members. The BFS oversees the functioning of Department of Banking Supervision (DBS), Department of Non-Banking Supervision (DNBS) and Financial Institutions Division (FID) and gives directions on the regulatory and supervisory issues.

Regulator and supervisor of the financial system

The institution is also the regulator and supervisor of the financial system and prescribes broad parameters of banking operations within which the country's banking and financial system functions. Its objectives are to maintain public confidence in the system, protect depositors' interest and provide cost-effective banking services to the public. The Banking Ombudsman Scheme has been formulated by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) for effective addressing of complaints by bank customers. The RBI controls the monetary supply, monitors economic indicators like the gross domestic product and has to decide the design of the rupee banknotes as well as coins.

Managerial of exchange control

The central bank manages to reach different goals of the Foreign Exchange Management Act, 1999. Objective: to facilitate external trade and payment and promote orderly development and maintenance of foreign exchange market in India

Issue of currency

The bank issues and exchanges currency notes and coins and destroys the same when they are not fit for circulation. The objectives are to issue bank notes and give public adequate supply of the same, to maintain the currency and credit system of the country to utilize it in its best advantage, and to maintain the reserves. RBI maintains the economic structure of the country so that it can achieve the objective of price stability as well as economic development because both objectives are diverse in themselves. For printing of notes, the Security Printing and Minting Corporation of India Limited (SPMCIL), a wholly owned company of the Government of India, has set up printing presses at Nashik, Maharashtra and Dewas, Madhya Pradesh. The Bharatiya Reserve Bank Note Mudran Private Limited (BRBNMPL), also has set up printing presses in Mysuru in Karnataka and Salboni in West Bengal. In all, there are four printing presses. And for the minting of coins, SPMCIL has four mints at Mumbai, Noida (UP), Kolkata and Hyderabad for coin production. Commercial banks create credit. It is the duty of the RBI to control the credit through the CRR, bank rate and open market operations. As banker's bank, the RBI facilitates the clearing of cheques between the commercial banks and helps the inter-bank transfer of funds. It can grant financial accommodation to schedule banks. It acts as the lender of the last resort by providing emergency advances to the banks. It supervises the functioning of the commercial banks and takes action against it if the need arises. The RBI also advices the banks on various matters for example Corporate Social Responsibility

Detection of fake currency

In order to curb the fake currency menace, RBI has launched a website to raise awareness among masses about fake notes in the market. www.paisaboltahai.rbi.org.in provides information about identifying fake currency.

On 22 January 2014; RBI gave a press release stating that after 31 March 2014, it will completely withdraw from circulation all banknotes issued prior to 2005. From 1 April 2014, the public will be required to approach banks for exchanging these notes. Banks will provide exchange facility for these notes until further communication. The Reserve Bank has also clarified that the notes issued before 2005 will continue to be legal tender. This would mean that banks are required to exchange the notes for their customers as well as for non-customers. From 1 July 2014, however, to exchange more than 15 pieces of `500 and `1000 notes, non-customers will have to furnish proof of identity and residence as well as show aadhar to the bank branch in which she/he wants to exchange the notes.

This move from the Reserve Bank is expected to unearth black money held in cash. As the new currency notes have added security features, they would help in curbing the menace of fake currency.

Developmental role

The central bank has to perform a wide range of promotional functions to support national objectives and industries. The RBI faces a lot of inter-sectoral and local inflation-related problems. Some of these problems are results of the dominant part of the public sector.

Related functions

The RBI is also a banker to the government and performs merchant banking function for the central and the state governments. It also acts as their banker. The National Housing Bank (NHB) was established in 1988 to promote private real estate acquisition. The institution maintains banking accounts of all scheduled banks, too. RBI on 7 August 2012 said that Indian banking system is resilient enough to face the stress caused by the drought like situation because of poor monsoon this year.

Demonetisation

On 8 November 2016, the Government of India announced the demonetisation of all ₹500 (US$7.40) and ₹1,000 (US$15) banknotes of the Mahatma Gandhi Series on the recommendation of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI). The government claimed that the action would curtail the shadow economy and crack down on the use of illicit and counterfeit cash to fund illegal activity and terrorism.

Repo rate

Repo (Repurchase) rate also known as the benchmark interest rate is the rate at which the RBI lends money to the banks for a short-term. When the repo rate increases, borrowing from RBI becomes more expensive. If RBI wants to make it more expensive for the banks to borrow money, it increases the repo rate similarly, if it wants to make it cheaper for banks to borrow money it reduces the repo rate.If the repo rate is increased, banks can't carry out their business at a profit whereas the very opposite happens when the repo rate is cut down. Generally, repo rates are cut down whenever the country needs to progress in banking and economy. Currently, the new RBI Governor Sri Urjit Patel has cut the previous Repo rate to 6.25% for facilitation of India's economy.

Reverse Repo Rate (RRR)

Reverse Repo rate is the short term borrowing rate at which RBI borrows money from banks. The Reserve bank uses this tool when it feels there is too much money floating in the banking system. An increase in the reverse repo rate means that the banks will get a higher rate of interest from RBI. As a result, banks prefer to lend their money to RBI which is always safe instead of lending it others (people, companies etc.) which is always risky.

Repo Rate signifies the rate at which liquidity is injected into the banking system by RBI, whereas Reverse Repo rate signifies the rate at which the central bank absorbs liquidity from the banks. Reverse Repo Rate is linked to Repo Rate with a difference of 0.5% between them.

Statutory liquidity ratio (SLR)

Apart from the CRR, banks are required to maintain liquid assets in the form of gold, cash and approved securities. Higher liquidity ratio forces commercial banks to maintain a larger proportion of their resources in liquid form and thus reduces their capacity to grant loans and advances, thus it is an anti-inflationary impact. A higher liquidity ratio diverts thebank funds from loans and advances to investment in government and approved securities. In well-developed economies, central banks use open market operations—buying and selling of eligible securities by the central bank in the money market—to influence the volume of cash reserves with commercial banks and thus influence the volume of loans and advances they can make to the commercial and industrial sectors. In the open money market, government securities are traded at market-related rates of interest. The RBI is resorting more to open market operations in the more recent years. Generally, RBI uses

1. Minimum margins for lending against specific securities.
2. Ceiling on the amounts of credit for certain purposes.
3. The discriminatory rate of interest charged on certain types of advances.

Direct credit controls in India are of three types:

1. Part of the interest rate structure, i.e., on small savings and provident funds, are administratively set.
2. Banks are mandatory required to keep 21.50% of their deposits in the form of government securities.
3. Banks are required to lend to the priority sectors to the extent of 40% of their advances.

Publications

A report titled "Trend and Progress of Banking In India" is published annually, as required by the Banking Regulation Act of 1949. The report sums up trends and developments throughout the financial sector. Starting in April 2014, the Reserve Bank of India publishes bi-monthly policy updates.