Reserve Bank of India

 

It is the Central Bank of the country. The Reserve Bank of India was established in 1935 with a capital of Rs. 5 crore. This capital of Rs. 5 crore was divided into 5 lakh equity shares of 100 each. In the beginning the ownership of almost all the share capital was with the non-government share holders. In order to prevent the centralisation of equity shares in hand of a few people The Reserve Bank of India was nationalised on January 1, 1949.

The general administration and direction of RBI is managed by a Central Board of Directors consiting of 20 members which includes one Governor, four Deputy Governors, one Government Official appointed by the Union Government of India to give representation to important strata in economic life of the country besides four directors are nominated by the Union Government to represent local boards. Apart from the central board there are four local boards also and their head offices are situated in Mumbai, Chennai, Kolkata and New Delhi. Five members of local boards are appointed by the Union Government for a period of four years. The local boards work according to the instructions and orders given by Board of Directors, and from time to time they also tender useful advice on important matter. The office of RBI is in Mumbai. At present Dr. D. Subbarao is the Governor of Reserve Bank of India.

Functions of Reserve Bank of India

1. Issue of Notes - The Reserve Bank has the monopoly of note issue in the country it has the sole right to issue currency notes of various denominations except one rupees notes. The Reserve Bank act as a only source of legal tender money because the one rupee note issued by the Ministry of Finance are also circulated through it. The Reserve Bank has adopted the Minimum Reserve System for note issue. Since 1957, it maintains the gold and foreign reserve of Rs. 200 crore, of which at least Rs. 115 crore should be in gold.
2. Banker to the Government - The second important function of the Reserve Bank of India is to act as the banker, agent, and adviser to the Government. It performs all the banking functions of the State and the Central Government and it also tenders useful advice to the Government on matters related to economic and monetary policy. It also manages the public debt for the Government.
3. Bankers' Bank - The Reserve Bank performs the same function for the other banks ordinarily perform for their customers. It is not only banker to the commercial bank, but it is the lender of the last resort.
4. Controller of Credit - The Reserve Bank undertakes the responsibility of controlling credit created by the commercial banks. To achieve this objective it makes extensive use of quantitative and qualitative techniques to control and regulate the credit effectively in the country.
5. Custodian of Foreign Reserves - For the purpose of keeping the foreign exchange rates stable the Reserve Bank buy and sells the foreign currencies and also protect the country's foreign exchange funds.
6. Other Functions - The bank performs a number of other developmental works. These works include the function of clearing house arranging  credit for agriculture (which has been transferred to NABARD), collecting and publishing the economic data, buying and selling of Government Securities and Trade Bill, giving loans to the Government, buying and selling of valuable commodities etc. It also act as representative of Government in IMF and represents the membership of India.