The Reserve Bank of India (RBI)

• The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) is India’s central banking institution, which controls the monetary policy of the Indian rupee.
• It commenced its operations on 1 April 1935 during the British Rule in accordance with the provisions of the Reserve Bank of India Act, 1934.
• Headquarters of RBI- Mumbai

The RBI is entrusted with the 21-member Central Board of Directors:

• the Governor
• 4 Deputy Governors
• 2 Finance Ministry representatives
• 10 government-nominated directors
• 4 directors to represent local boards headquartered at Mumbai, Kolkata, Chennai and New Delhi

Each of these local boards consists of 5 members who represent regional interests, and the interests of co-operative and indigenous banks.

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

• The RBI was established on the basis of The RBI Act, 1934 on April 1, 1935
• The RBI was established on the recommendation of Hilton Young Commission Committee
• 1st Governor of RBI was Sir Osborne Smith
• 2nd Governor of RBI was James Taylor
• 3rd governor of RBI (1st Indian Governor of RBI) was C.D. Deshmukh
• The RBI was nationalized on January 1,1949
• In January 1938, The RBI issued currency of Rs.5 with the photo of George VI on it. This was the 1st time The RBI issued currency.
• In June 1938, The RBI issued currency of Rs.10000 which was ,later, discontinued in 1946
• Denominations of Coins and Currency is decided by the Government of India but the number of coins and currency note is decided by the RBI.
• The financial year of the RBI starts from 1 April – 31 March
• The Banks which are included in 2nd schedule of The RBI Act are called scheduled commercial banks
• Only scheduled commercial banks can take loans from  the RBI at repo rate
• Non-schedule commercial banks need not maintain CRR with the RBI but SLR must be maintained by them

Functions of the RBI

• Regulator of Bank and Development Authority
• Regulator of NBFC
• Custodian of Forex Reserve– The RBI maintains the Forex reserve of the Government of India so that international transactions can be carried out efficiently and also price stability can be maintained
• Credit Control- The RBI maintains the credit of the country through credit policy
• Lender of Last Resort
• Banker’s Bank
• Banker of the Government
• Regulator of Open Market Operations
• Issuer of Currency

• The RBI Governor signs on the currency printed by the RBI
• The RBI prints all the currency notes except the one rupee currency note
• 15 languages are printed on the backside of the currency note and the note has total 17 languages
• Currency note is a bearer instrument
• Bharatiya Reserve Bank Note Mudran Private Limited (BRBNMPL) is one of the subsidiaries of the RBI and prints currency note on behalf of the RBI.
• The four printing press are in-

1. Mysore
2. Salboni (West Bengal)
3. Dewas (MP)
4. Nasik

BRBNMPL was established on February 3, 1995

Currency note is made up of cotton and cotton rag

Coins are minted by the Government of India according to the Coinage Act,1906 and Coinage Act,2011

Security Printing and Minting Corporation of India Limited (SPMCIL) is an Indian government-owned corporation  established on January 13, 2006 that mints coins on behalf of the Government of the India. It has 4 minting units at-

1. Mumbai
2. Noida
3. Hyderabad
4. Kolkata

Coins are made up of stainless steel.

Rs.1 note is called currency note and is printed by the Government of India 
Finance Secretary signs on Rs. 1 note.

Uday Kumar gave the Rupee symbol.

Quiz on RBI   

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