The founding Act of the Reserve Bank of India and the make-up of its Central Board

Background

The Reserve Bank of India was established on April 1, 1935 in accordance with the provisions of the Reserve Bank of India Act, 1934. Its Central Office was initially established in Kolkata but was permanently moved to Mumbai in 1937, and that is where the Governor sits and where policies are formulated. Though originally privately owned, since nationalisation in 1949 the Reserve Bank is fully owned by the Government of India. The Bank is governed by a central board of directors appointed by the Government of India in keeping with the Reserve Bank of India Act. Its full-time official directors are the Governor and not more than four Deputy Governors. The non-official directors are ten Directors nominated by Government from various fields and two government officials, together with four Directors, one each from the four local boards. Directors are appointed or nominated for a period of four years, and the board's function is the general superintendence and direction of the Bank's affairs. The Board for Financial Supervision, a committee of the Central Board, was constituted in November 1994 and exercises integrated supervision over commercial banks, financial institutions and non-banking financial intermediaries.