Reserve Bank of India

Reserve Bank of India was established on 1st April, 1935 under RBI Act 1934 on the recommendations of John Hilton Young commission 1926 (Royal Commission on Indian Currency and Finance). RBI is Central Bank of our country and it is nationalised w.e.f 1st January, 1949. Initially it was a shareholders’ bank later which was taken over by the Central Government under Reserve Bank (Transfer of Public Ownership) Act 1948 with a paid up capital of Rs 5 Cr. RBI’s Central Office is in Mumbai. Though originally privately owned, since nationalisation in 1949, the Reserve Bank is fully owned by the Government of India.

Preamble
The Preamble of the Reserve Bank of India is
"...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."

Main Functions
Monetary Authority:
Formulates implements and monitors the monetary policy with the objective of maintaining price stability and ensuring adequate flow of credit to productive sectors.

Issuer of Currency:
RBI is the sole agency/authority in India to issue bank notes Bank Note means Rs.2 and above. (One rupee note and all coins will be issued by Central Government. One rupee note will be signed by Finance Secretary) Coins will be minted at four stations i.e. Mumbai, Kolkata, Hyderabad and Noida.

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. Controls the banks and acts as a lender of last resort by providing financial assistance in various ways

Regulator and Supervisor of the Financial System:
Prescribes broad parameters of banking operations within which the country's banking and financial system functions with the objective of maintain public confidence in the system, protect depositors' interest and provide cost-effective banking services to the public.

Manager of Foreign Exchange:
Manages the Foreign Exchange Management Act, 1999 with the objective of to facilitate external trade and payment and promote orderly development and maintenance of foreign exchange market in India.

Offices:
RBI has 19 regional offices in Ahmedabad, Bangalore, Bhopal, Bhubaneswar, Chandigarh, Chennai, Delhi, Guwahati, Hyderabad, Jaipur, Jammu, Kanpur, Kolkata, Lucknow, Mumbai, Nagpur, Patna, and Thiruvananthapuram. It also has 9 Sub-offices in Agartala, Dehradun, Gangtok, Kochi, Panaji, Raipur, Ranchi, Shillong, Shimla and Srinagar. The Fully owned two subsidiaries of RBI are Deposit Insurance and Credit Guarantee Corporation of India (DICGC), Bharatiya Reserve Bank Note Mudran Private Limited (BRBNMPL)

List of RBI Governors:

S.nl		Name of the Governor	Joining and Leaving Dates
1.		Sir Osborne A. Smith	April 1st 1935 – June 30th, 1937
2.		Sir James Braid Taylor	July 1st 1937 – February 17th, 1943
3.		Sir Chintaman D. Deshmukh	August 11th 1943 – June 30th, 1949
4.		Sir Benegal Rama Rau	July 1st 1949 – January 14th 1957
5.		K.G. Ambegaonkar	January 14th 1957 – February 28th 1957
6.		H.V.R. Ienger	March 1st 1957 – February 28th 1962
7.		P.C. Bhattacharyya	March 1st 1962 – June 30th 1967
8.		L.K. Jha	July 1st 1967 – May 3rd 1970
9.		B.N. Adarkar	May 4th 1970 – June 15th 1970
10.		S. Jagannathan	June 16th 1970 – May 19th 1975
11.		N.C. Sen Gupta	May 19th 1975 – August 19th 1975
12.		K.R. Puri	August 20th 1975 – May 2nd 1977
13.		M. Narasimham	May 2nd 1977 – November 30th 1977
14.		Dr. I.G. Patel	December 1st 1977 – September 15th 1982
15.		Dr. Manmohan Singh	September 16th 1982 – January 14th 1985
16.	A. Ghosh		January 15th 1985 – February 4th 1985
17.	R.N. Malhotra		February 4th 1985 – December 22nd 1990
18.	S. Venkitaramanan		December 22nd 1990 – December 21st 1992
19.	Dr. C. Rangarajan		December 22nd 1992 – November 22nd 1997
20.	Dr. Bimal Jalan		November 22nd 1997 – September 5th 2003
21.	Dr. Y.V.Reddy		September 6th 2003 – September 5th 2008
22.	Dr. D. Subbarao		September 5th 2008 –September 4th 2013
23.	Dr. Raghuram Rajan		September 4th 2013

Practice Questions:

1. Functions of Reserve Bank are:
   a) Bankers Bank
   b) Banker to Government
   c) Lender of Last Resort
   d) Controlling financial requirements of banks through Repo/Reverse Repo
   e) All the above
   
2. How many Deputy Governors will be there in RBI?
   a) 3
   b) 5
   c) 7
   d) 4
   e) No Deputy Governor will be appointed

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Published date : 01 Aug 2014 12:20PM