Reserve Bank of India Act, 1934 is the legislative act under which the

Reserve Bank of India The Reserve Bank of India, chiefly known as RBI, is India's central bank and regulatory body responsible for regulation of the Indian banking system. It is under the ownership of Ministry of Finance, Government of India. It is responsible for ...

was formed. This act along with the

Companies Act Companies Act (with its variations) is a stock short title used for legislation in Botswana, Hong Kong, India, Kenya, Malaysia, New Zealand, South Africa and the United Kingdom in relation to company law. The Bill for an Act with this short title ...

, which was amended in 1936, were meant to provide a framework for the supervision of banking firms in

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

Summary

The Act contains the definition of the so-called scheduled banks, as they are mentioned in the 2nd Schedule of the Act. These are banks which were to have paid up capital and reserves above 5 lakh. There are various section in the RBI Act but the most controversial and confusing section is Section 7. Although this section has been used only once by the central govt, it puts a restriction on the autonomy of the RBI. Section 7 states that central government can legislate the functioning of the RBI through the RBI board, and the RBI is not an autonomous body. Section 17 of the Act defines the manner in which the RBI (the central bank of India) can conduct business. The RBI can accept deposits from the central and state governments without interest. It can purchase and discount

bills of exchange A negotiable instrument is a document guaranteeing the payment of a specific amount of money, either on demand, or at a set time, whose payer is usually named on the document. More specifically, it is a document contemplated by or consisting of a ...

from commercial banks. It can purchase

foreign exchange The foreign exchange market (Forex, FX, or currency market) is a global decentralized or over-the-counter (OTC) market for the trading of currencies. This market determines foreign exchange rates for every currency. It includes all as ...

from banks and sell it to them. It can provide loans to banks and state financial corporations. It can provide advances to the central government and state governments. It can buy or sell

government securities A country's gross government debt (also called public debt, or sovereign debt) is the financial liabilities of the government sector. Changes in government debt over time reflect primarily borrowing due to past government deficits. A deficit oc ...

. It can deal in

derivative In mathematics, the derivative of a function of a real variable measures the sensitivity to change of the function value (output value) with respect to a change in its argument (input value). Derivatives are a fundamental tool of calculus. F ...

repo A repurchase agreement, also known as a repo, RP, or sale and repurchase agreement, is a form of short-term borrowing, mainly in government securities. The dealer sells the underlying security to investors and, by agreement between the two par ...

and reverse repo. Section 18 deals with emergency loans to banks. Section 21 states that the RBI must conduct banking affairs for the central government and manage

public debt A country's gross government debt (also called public debt, or sovereign debt) is the financial liabilities of the government sector. Changes in government debt over time reflect primarily borrowing due to past government deficits. A deficit oc ...

. Section 22 states that only the RBI has the exclusive rights to issue currency notes in India. Section 24 states that the maximum denomination a note can be is . Section 26 of Act describes the

legal tender Legal tender is a form of money that courts of law are required to recognize as satisfactory payment for any monetary debt. Each jurisdiction determines what is legal tender, but essentially it is anything which when offered ("tendered") in pa ...

character of Indian bank notes. Section 28 allows the RBI to form rules regarding the exchange of damaged and imperfect notes. Section 31 states that in India, only the RBI or the central government can issue and accept

promissory note A promissory note, sometimes referred to as a note payable, is a legal instrument (more particularly, a financing instrument and a debt instrument), in which one party (the ''maker'' or ''issuer'') promises in writing to pay a determinate sum of ...

s that are payable on demand. However,

cheques A cheque, or check (American English; see spelling differences) is a document that orders a bank (or credit union) to pay a specific amount of money from a person's account to the person in whose name the cheque has been issued. The pers ...

, that are payable on demand, can be issued by anyone. Section 42(1) says that every scheduled bank must have an average daily balance with the RBI. The amount of the deposit shall be more that a certain percentage of its net time and demand liabilities in India.

References

{{Reserve Bank of India Reserve Bank of India Acts of the Parliament of India 1934 Banking in India Financial history of India