The main aim of this reserve is to meet emergency requirements of foreign exchange and overcome adverse requirements of deficit in balance of payments. It issues currency, regulates money supply, and controls different interest rates in a country. Apart from this, the central bank controls and regulates the activities of all commercial banks in a country. Summing up, the RBI’s main objective is to conduct consolidated supervision of India’s financial sector, which consists of financial institutions, commercial banks, and non-banking finance firms. The various initiatives that RBI has adopted include introducing off-site surveillance of banks, restructuring bank inspections, and financial institutions, along with strengthening the role of auditors.
Soon after other MICR processing centres at the main metros and other major centres were started. After nearly twenty odd years of MICR clearing, the cheque truncation system (CTS) was introduced first in New Delhi in 2008 and now all the MICR centres have been subsumed into three grid-CTS systems at New Delhi, Chennai and Mumbai. Further, standardisation of cheque features with built-in fraud prevention measures have also been brought in the form of CTS-2010 cheque standards. Paper money, in the modern sense, has its origin in the late 18th century with the note issues of private banks as well as semi-government banks. Amongst the earliest issues were those by the Bank of Hindoostan, the General Bank in Bengal and Behar, and the Bengal Bank.
- 3.49 One solution for the problem of currency crisis is ‘Currency Board’, which is the modern day version of fixed exchange rate.
- While introducing new design notes, the old design notes are allowed to continue as legal tender as withdrawing the old series immediately would cause great public convenience.
- NDS-OM Web Based System is an internet access-based utility for use by the various Gilt Account Holders (GAH) for directly accessing NDS-OM.
- The State Government can enter into an agreement with RBI in terms of Section 21A of RBI Act for their banking and debt management functions.
- On the other hand, Kisch and Elkins believed that “the maintenance of the stability of the monetary standard” as the essential function of central bank.
A dedicated Cyber Security & IT Examination Cell (CSITE Cell) was also established in June 2015 within the RBI. To conduct meaningful supervision of regulated entities, both off-site surveillance and onsite examination are equally important. RBI uses a judicious mix of off-site and on-site tools to conduct a ‘close and continuous’ supervision of banks. Credit Reporting System in India currently consists of four credit Information companies (CICs) viz., TransUnion CIBIL limited, Experian Credit Information Company of India Private Ltd, Equifax Credit Information Services Private Limited and CRIF High Mark Credit Information Services Pvt. The minimum statutory requirements for setting up new banks in India are stipulated in the Banking Regulation Act, 1949. Ownership in private banks is also regulated in terms of threshold limits and ‘lock in’ period with a view to address conflicts of interest and for ensuring more diversified ownership.
Non-Monetary Functions
Various options may explored to reflect risk asymmetry among state governments in their cost of borrowing. Capacity building programmes for sensitising state governments about the prudent measures of cash and debt management may be conducted87. Over the last decade, non-banking financial companies (NBFCs) have witnessed phenomenal growth. From being around 10 per cent of the balance sheet size of banks in 2009, they are now more than a quarter of the size of banks. While the development of a robust non-bank intermediation channel provides a good ‘spare tyre’ to the economy, unbridled growth fuelled by a lighter regulatory framework can also lead to systemic risks.
Central bank mandates
All OTC trades in CP are required to be reported within the specified timeframe after execution of the trades to the Financial Market Trade Reporting and Confirmation Platform (“F-TRAC”) of Clearcorp Dealing System (India) Ltd. (CDSL). The duties and obligations of the Issuer, Issuing and Paying Agent (IPA) and Credit Rating Agency (CRA) have been spelt out in RBI’s guidelines. The Interest Rate Swaps (IRS)/ Forward Rate Agreements (FRA) were introduced in 1999 to further deepen the money market and enable market participants to hedge their interest rate risks. Market infrastructure for trading, reporting, clearing and settlement of money market transactions has been strengthened keeping in pace with the development of the market. Apart from financial institutions such as Commercial banks, Co-operative banks, Primary Dealers (PDs), Insurance companies, Mutual Funds, Non-banking financial companies (NBFCs), etc., Reserve Bank has permitted corporates to participate in certain collateralized segments of the Money Market. Once the systemic risk has been identified, the next task is to implement the policies to mitigate such risks.
Chennai, Kolkata, Mumbai and New Delhi and handle complaints of customers in the respective zones. The Scheme also provides for an Appellate mechanism under which the complainant / NBFC has the option to appeal against the decision of the Ombudsman before the Appellate Authority, in case of award or rejection under certain clauses. To tide over temporary mismatches in the receipts and payments of Governments, Sec.17 (5) of RBI Act empowers RBI to grant Ways and Means Advances to Central Government and State Governments, which is a collateral free clean advance.
Central Bank of India
Aligning the central banks’ policies to the governments’ developmental goals is crucial in a developing country. For this purpose, central banks often take over developmental and promotional activities, which are of quasi-fiscal nature. Selective credit policies, for instance, micro allocation of credit, credit subsidies to preferred sectors are undertaken in order to support the governments’ growth initiatives. However, all subsidy based quasi-fiscal regulations distort the markets and sow seeds of financial repression.
The resource intensiveness also needs to be factored in while designing the technology architecture of CBDC. In the case of centralised systems, the resource consumption shall be comparable with that of existing payment systems. In the case of distributed systems, much would depend on whether there is any consensus protocol and if there is one, whether it is a highly resource intensive one like “Proof of Work” or otherwise.
The market sentiments and behaviour of the market participants are impacted, which ultimately lead to stability in the market. Announcement regarding OMO sales may have a hardening impact on yield due to higher supply of securities in the system. The selection of securities for OMO auction is an important factor in the success of the auction. The cut-off yield of the OMO auctions are keenly watched by the markets as it may indicate RBI’s comfort levels for the yields.
In an Indirect model, central bank and other intermediaries (banks and any other service providers), each play their respective role. In this model central bank issues CBDC to consumers indirectly through intermediaries and any claim by consumers is managed by the intermediary as the central bank only handles wholesale payments to intermediaries. Bank for International Settlement has laid down “foundational principles” and “core features” of a CBDC, to guide exploration and support public policy objectives, as per the need of existing mandate of Central Banks. The foundational principles emphasise that, authorities would first need to be confident that issuance would not compromise monetary or financial stability and that a CBDC could coexist with and complement existing forms of money, promoting innovation and efficiency. Irrespective of the form of money, in any economy, money performs three primary functions – medium of exchange, a unit of account and a store of value.
As agent of the Government, it is entrusted with the task of managing the public debt and the issue of new loans and Treasury Bills on behalf of the Government. By acting as financial adviser to the Government, it advises the Government on important matters of economic policy such as deficit financing, devaluation of currency, trade policy, foreign exchange policy, etc. The conduct of Government business is also governed by the Central Government Treasury Rules, Treasury Rules of the State Government and instructions issued from time to time by Controller General of Accounts and other Departments of Central and State Governments. 7.2.2 There would be a much larger impact on reserve money, money supply and net demand and time liabilities (NDTL) of banks if CBDC is remunerated because of potential scope for substitution of deposits of commercial banks by CBDCs. Consequently, commercial banks will be constrained for funds and rely more on central bank liquidity provisions. As a result, the central bank balance sheet will get bloated increasing reserve money due to financial disintermediation.
Functions of Central Bank
3.1 Central banks which began with the need for institutions that could serve as lender-of-the-last-resort to commercial banks and lender to the government, were later entrusted with the tasks of management of internal and external value of currency. Typically, central banks are now set up as entities that regulate financial institutions, maintain low inflation, a stable exchange rate and promote economic growth. Indeed, central banks have taken over a whole range of functions, becoming multi-tasking institutions that conduct monetary policy, regulate and supervise the banking system and perform a crucial https://1investing.in/ role in the payment system (Jadhav, 2003). Because commercial banks might lend long-term against short-term deposits, they can face “liquidity” problems – a situation where they have the money to repay a debt but not the ability to turn it into cash quickly. This is where a central bank can step in as a “lender of last resort.” This helps keep the financial system stable. They usually issue banknotes and coins, often ensure the smooth functioning of payment systems for banks and traded financial instruments, manage foreign reserves, and play a role in informing the public about the economy.
3.102 As central banks are the apex financial institutions, they often foster financial market development, steer the financial sector reform and ensure its adherence to international standards. The goals before the central banks in developing countries are broader and they often resort to interventionist or selective policies for fulfilling their responsibilities at least in the initial phases. Financial sector reforms in many developing central bank of india definition countries typically, have been initiated by the central banks unlike the developed countries where they were generally a mainstream process. In most developing countries, reforms are a gradual process rather than being a one-time event; they spread over a decade involving several steps, the foremost of which is elimination of financial repression in the economy emanating from the regulation and regimentation of the financial system.
In order to ensure transparency, standardisation, and ease of understanding of loan products by borrowers, banks have been advised to adopt a uniform external benchmark within a loan category; in other words, adoption of multiple benchmarks by the same bank is not allowed within a loan category. Banks are highly leveraged institutions as they mobilise huge quantum of deposits and borrowings against a relatively very low quantum of their own equity capital. Since banks build-up huge leverage using depositors’ funds, protection of depositors’ interests becomes one of the central reasons for bank regulation. Unsophisticated depositors of banks may not be able to monitor banks effectively due to asymmetric information. Asymmetric information arises when one party to the economic transaction has greater material information than the other party.