Reserve Bank of India
 |
The RBI headquarters in Mumbai |
 |
The RBI Regional Office in Mumbai |
|
The RBI heaquarters in Delhi. |
The
Reserve Bank of India (RBI) is the
central bank of
India, and was established on
April 1,
1935 in accordance with the provisions of the
Reserve Bank of India Act,
1934. Since its inception, it has been headquartered in
Mumbai. Though originally privately owned, RBI has been fully owned by the
Government of India since nationalization in
1949.
RBI is governed by a central board (headed by a
Governor) appointed by the
Central Government. The current governor of RBI is
Dr.Y.Venugopal Reddy (who succeeded
Dr. Bimal Jalan on
September 6,
2003) and the Deputy Governor is Ms
Shyamala Gopinath . RBI has 22 regional offices across India.
The Reserve Bank of India was set up on the recommendations of the
Hilton Young Commission. The commission submitted its report in the year
1926, though the bank was not set up for nine years.
On
June 27,2006,the Union Government of India reconstituted the Central Board of Directors of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) with 13 members, including
Azim Premji and
Kumaramangalam Birla.
The other members of the board are:
*
Suresh Tendulkar, Economist and Member, Prime Minister's Economic Advisory Council (to represent Eastern Area Local Board)
*
U. R. Rao, former Chairman, ISRO and Chairman Research Council, Physical Research Laboratory, Department of Space (to represent Northern Area Local Board)
*
Lakshmi Chand, IAS (Retd.) (to represent Southern Area Local Board)
*
Shashi Rekha Rajagopalan, Consultant, Co-operatives
*
Suresh Kumar Neotia, Chairman, Ambuja Cement
*
A. Vaidyanathan, Madras Institute of Development Studies
*
Man Mohan Sharma, FRS, Former Director, Mumbai University Institute of Chemical Technology
*
D. Jayavarthanavelu, Chairman and Managing Director, Laxmi Machine Works Ltd.
Those who were renominated to the board include *
Y. H. Malegam, Chartered Accountant, (to represent Western Area Local Board),
*
H. P. Ranina, Supreme Court Advocate,
*
Ashok S. Ganguly, Member, Investment Commission and Chairman, ICICI OneSource.
The retiring Directors includeMr
Mr
Narayan MurthyMihir RakshitK. Madhava RaoV. S. VyasK.P. SinghAmrita Patel Suresh Krishna On
1 July,2006 in an attempt to enhance the quality of customer service and strengthen the grievance redressal mechanism, the Reserve Bank of India constituted a new department â€"
Customer Service Department (CSD).
* Monetary Authority:
** Formulates, implements and monitors the monetary policy.
** Objective: maintaining price stability and ensuring adequate flow of credit to productive sectors.
* Regulator and supervisor of the financial system:
** Prescribes broad parameters of banking operations within which the country's banking and financial system functions.
** Objective: 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 redressal of complaints by bank customers
* Manager of Exchange Control:
** Manages 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.
* Issuer of currency:
** Issues and exchanges or destroys currency and coins not fit for circulation.
** Objective: to give the public adequate quantity of supplies of currency notes and coins and in good quality.
* Developmental role
** Performs a wide range of promotional functions to support national objectives.
* Related Functions
** Banker to the Government: performs merchant banking function for the central and the state governments; also acts as their banker.
** Banker to banks: maintains banking accounts of all scheduled banks.
** Owner and operator of the depository (SGL) and exchange (NDS) for government bonds.
There is now an international consensus about the need to focus the tasks of acentral bank upon central banking. RBI is far out of touch with such a principle,owing to the sprawling mandate described above.
Figures below are in millions of Indian Rupees. See [
1] and [
2]
| Bills Payable |
|---|
| 1950 | 9,983 | 173 |
| 1955 | 11,592 | 262 |
| 1960 | 20,218 | 317 |
| 1965 | 32,897 | 446 |
| 1970 | 64,793 | 923 |
| 1975 | 156,665 | 2,254 |
| 1980 | 439,869 | 10,995 |
| 1985 | 1,032,134 | 24,556 |
| 1990 | 1,820,468 | 38,656 |
| 1995 | 3,984,352 | 116,622 |
| 2000 |
| 2005 |
Figures below are in millions of Indian Rupees. See [
3] and [
4]
| Advances |
|---|
| 1950 | 4,330 | 5,353 |
| 1955 | 4,600 | 7,037 |
| 1960 | 7,241 | 12,458 |
| 1965 | 9,884 | 21,954 |
| 1970 | 18,148 | 46,850 |
| 1975 | 45,999 | 106,167 |
| 1980 | 126,642 | 272,673 |
| 1985 | 303,378 | 623,553 |
| 1990 | 687,151 | 1,095,412 |
| 1995 | 1,750,206 | 2,243,308 |
| 2000 |
| 2005 |
* - include fixed, savings, current, contingency accounts,
et al* - include securities of Central and States governments, trustee securities, shares, debentures, gold,
et al* - include loans and advances, cash credit and overdrafts, bills purchased and discounted
*
List of RBI governors*
Indian rupee*
Reserve Bank of India Official site*
Reserve Bank of India Ombudsman site*
Reforms on the mandate of RBI*
RBI operations
