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Banking and Finance One-Liners

Rapid-fire one-liners on the RBI, banking structure, regulators, financial instruments and key dates, for CAPF Paper I Indian Economy

CAPF wiki3 min read8 sections
At a glance
SubjectEconomy
RevisionEconomyBankingRBIFinancePaper 1

One screen per section. Cover the right column and test yourself. These are clean, durable facts on India's banking and financial system. For current rates (repo, CRR, SLR) and the latest regulatory thresholds, verify the latest RBI release; the focus here is on institutions, history and concepts that do not change.

The Reserve Bank of India

Item Fact
Established 1 April 1935, under the RBI Act, 1934
Nationalised 1 January 1949
Headquarters Mumbai (initially Calcutta)
First Governor Sir Osborne Smith
First Indian Governor C D Deshmukh
Currency-issuing authority RBI issues all notes except the one rupee note and coins (issued by the Government, Ministry of Finance)
Note printing presses Nashik and Dewas (Government); Mysuru and Salboni (RBI-owned)
Bank for the Government Acts as banker, debt manager and adviser to the Centre and States
Monetary policy body Monetary Policy Committee (MPC), six members, set up 2016
Inflation target 4 percent CPI with a band of plus or minus 2 percent (verify the latest)

Functions and tools of the RBI

Function Note
Sole note issuer Minimum Reserve System since 1956 (gold and foreign securities backing)
Banker's bank Maintains reserves, acts as lender of last resort
Controller of credit Through CRR, SLR, repo, reverse repo, OMO
Custodian of forex reserves Manages the country's foreign exchange reserves
Regulator of banks Licensing, supervision, prudential norms

Banking structure and milestones

Item Fact
First bank in India Bank of Hindustan (1770), later wound up
Oldest existing bank State Bank of India lineage (Bank of Calcutta, 1806; later Imperial Bank)
SBI formed 1955 (Imperial Bank reconstituted under the SBI Act)
First bank nationalisation 14 major banks nationalised in 1969
Second nationalisation 6 more banks in 1980
First fully Indian-owned bank Punjab National Bank (1894)
Regional Rural Banks Established 1975 to serve rural areas
NABARD Apex rural and agricultural finance body, set up 1982

Regulators and apex institutions

Body Regulates
RBI Banks, monetary policy, payment systems
SEBI Securities and capital markets (statutory since 1992)
IRDAI Insurance sector
PFRDA Pension funds (NPS)
NABARD Rural and agricultural credit
SIDBI Small industries finance
EXIM Bank Export and import finance
DICGC Deposit insurance (cover per depositor; verify the latest limit)

Money supply and deposits

Term Meaning
M0 (reserve money) Currency in circulation plus bankers' deposits with RBI
M1 (narrow money) Currency with public plus demand deposits
M3 (broad money) M1 plus time deposits with banks
Demand deposit Withdrawable on demand (current and savings accounts)
Time deposit Fixed for a term (fixed and recurring deposits)
CASA Current Account and Savings Account, low-cost deposits

Financial inclusion and payments

Scheme / system Note
PMJDY Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana, basic no-frills bank accounts
UPI Unified Payments Interface, run by NPCI
NPCI National Payments Corporation of India, umbrella for retail payments
RTGS Real Time Gross Settlement, large-value real-time transfers
NEFT National Electronic Funds Transfer, batch-settled transfers
Priority Sector Lending Mandated bank lending to agriculture, MSME, weaker sections

Capital market quick facts

Item Fact
Oldest stock exchange in Asia Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE), 1875
Benchmark indices Sensex (BSE, 30 stocks); Nifty 50 (NSE)
IPO Initial Public Offering: first public sale of a company's shares
Mutual fund Pooled investment managed by professionals, regulated by SEBI
Bond vs share Debt instrument (fixed return) vs ownership equity
Gilt-edged securities Government securities, considered the safest

Cross-references

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