Dear Reader, You already know Reserve Bank of India is the pillar of surging (growing) Indian economy. Below are 30 facts which every Indian (not just candidates) must know.

At the end, you will find a short practice test with 5 questions.

1.      RBI is the central banking institution, which controls the monetary policy of the Indian rupee.

2.      RBI was established on 1^st April 1935, under the Reserve Bank of India Act, 1934.

3.      RBI was conceptualized based on the guidelines presented by Dr. Ambedkar in his book titled “The Problem of the Rupee – Its origin and its solution”.

4.      RBI was set up based on the recommendation of “Royal Commission on Indian Currency & Finance” in 1926. This commission was also known as Hilton Young Commission.

5.      RBI was nationalised on 1^st January 1949.

6.      The emblem of RBI is Panther and Palm tree.

7.     RBI’s logo was derived from East India Company Double Mohur.

8.      RBI is fully owned by the Government of India.

9.      RBI is a member bank of the Asian Clearing Union.

10.  The Central Office of RBI was initially established in Calcutta and then permanently moved to Mumbai in 1937.

11.  RBI is controlled by a central board of directors.

12.  The directors are appointed for a 4 year term by the Government of India in keeping with the Reserve Bank of India Act.

13.  The general superintendence and direction of the RBI is entrusted with 21-member Central Board of Directors.

The Central Board consists of:

·         1 Governor

·         4 Deputy Governors

·         2 Finance Ministry representatives

·         4 directors to represent local boards headquartered at Mumbai, Kolkata, Chennai and New Delhi

·         10 government-nominated directors to represent important elements from India’s economy

RBI has four zonal offices : New Delhi for North, Chennai for South, Kolkata for East and Mumbai for West.

      i.            The Reserve Bank of India has 19 regional offices and 11 sub-offices at present.

    ii.            The executive head of RBI is Governor.

  iii.            The Governor is associated by 4 deputy governors.

  iv.            The bank has two training colleges for its officers:

    v.            Reserve Bank Staff College at Chennai

  vi.            College of Agricultural Banking at Pune

vii.            RBI is not a Commercial Bank.

viii.            The First Governor of RBI was Sir Osborne Smith (1935 – 1937).

  ix.            The First Indian Governor of RBI was CD Deshmukh (1943 – 1949).

    x.            The only Prime Minister who was the Governor of RBI was Manmohan Singh (1982 – 1985).

  xi.            The First women deputy Governor of RBI was KJ Udeshi.

xii.            RBI has launched a website named www.paisaboltahai.rbi.org.in. to raise awareness among masses about fake notes in the market.

xiii.            RBI regulates the credit and currency system in India.

xiv.            Currency notes have 15 languages printed on them.

xv.            RBI is a member of IMF (International Monetary Fund).

xvi.            The Government of India is responsible for minting of coins and printing of 1 rupee notes.

xvii.            RBI is the only sole authority in India that can issue bank notes of denomination values of Rs. 2, 5, 10, 20, 50, 100, 1000, 5000 and 10,000.

xviii.            RBI can issue currency notes as much as the country requires, provided India has the security deposit of Rs. 200 Crores, out of which 115 crores must be in gold and 85 crores must be in forex reserves.

xix.            RBI is responsible only for printing the currency notes. Minting of coins is done by the Government of India.

xx.            The first woman to become the deputy governor of RBI is K. J. Udeshi. She was appointed in 2003.

xxi.             RBI demonetized notes in the denominations of  five thousand rupees (Rs. 5,000) and ten thousand rupees (Rs. 10,000) in 1938. They were reintroduced in 1954 and again demonetized in 1978. RBI can print these notes according to the RBI act of 1934.

xxii.            RBI was also the central bank for two other countries. It played the role of Central Bank of Pakistan till June 1948 and the Central Bank of Burma ( Myanmar) till April 1947.

xxiii.             The bank was established on the recommendation of the Hilton Young Commission.

xxiv.            RBI does not have second class employees. It has 17000 Class I, Class III & Class IV employees.

xxv.             Manmohan Singh is the only Prime Minister to have also served as the Governor of RBI. He was the Governor of RBI  from 1982-1985.

xxvi.            RBI has 29 offices in India which are mostly located in the state capitals.

xxvii.            RBI runs a Monetary Museum in the premises of the Mumbai head office.