Reserve Bank of India (RBI)

Governor– Sanjay Malhotra (as of 2025)

The Reserve Bank of India(RBI)is India’s central bank and apex institute that controls the monetary policy of the Indian economy. It was set up on1 April 1935under the Reserve Bank of India Act,1934. RBI controls and regulates the whole banking network in India.

RBI celebrated its90th anniversaryon April 1, 2025 and to celebrate this occasion a commemorative postage stamp was released by the President of India, Droupadi Murmu.

During the First World War, India was the prime supplier of the raw materials for manufacturing arms and was responsible for sustaining the British wartime economy.

After the First World War, many reforms like theMontagu-Chelmsford reformswere enacted by the British Govt as a concession for India's wartime services.

But it was to protect the British interest and as a result, India faced many economic downturns.

After the World War, it was theGreat Depression of 1929 that cripples the Indian economy. During the Depression, the British Govt. introduced economic policies that basically destroyed the economy of India while sustaining Britain's economy.

The words ofLord Willingdon, the Viceroy of Indiapaint a vivid picture of what was going on with the Indian economy at the time:

For the first time in history, owing to the economic situation, Indians are disgorging gold. We have sent to London in the past two or three months, 25,000,000 sterling and I hope that the process will continue.

These circumstances sparked huge protests across the country. To alleviate the issue, the notion of a central bank was established in India.

A "Royal Commission on Indian Currency & Finance” known asHilton Young Commissionwas set up in1926.They formulated the guidelines for a central bank based on Dr. B.R. Ambedkar's book "The Problem of the Rupee – Its origin and its solution"published in the year1923.

The Central Legislative Assembly passed these guidelines as the RBI Act 1934 and a central bank came into being onApril 1, 1935,withSir Osborne Smith as its first Governor.The emblem of RBI isPanther and the Palm treeand itslogowere derived fromEast India Company Double Mohur.

Its headquarters was initially established in Kolkata but moved to Mumbai in 1937.

The RBI also acted as thecentral bank for both Burma(now Myanmar) and Pakistanuntil April 1947 and June 1948 respectively.

PreambleThe 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; to have a modern monetary policy framework to meet the challenge of an increasingly complex economy, to maintain price stability while keeping in mind the objective of growth.

MANI application– launched by RBI for visually challenged persons to identify new currency notes.Mobile Aided Note Identifier.TheGovernment of Indiais responsible for the minting of coins and printing of1 rupee notes.Currency notes have 15 languages printed on them.