75 Years of Reserve Bank of India - Exhibition in Kolkata
BUT why Kolkata? Because Kolkata is where it all began.
The Reserve Bank's first central office was located in Kolkata in the very same building where it is housed now.
The Reserve Bank took birth here in Kolkata on April 1, 1935 as a private shareholders institution. It shifted to Mumbai shortly thereafter and was nationalized in 1949. Soon after independence, the bank repositioned itself to meet the aspirations of an infant democracy and dovetailed its functions to the demands of a poor country with ambitious development goals.
In the function, RBI Governor Dr. D. Subba Rao said,
The 60s were a period of institution building where the Reserve Bank helped formalize systems for agricultural and industrial credit; catalyzed institutions such as the State Finance Corporations and helped set up the Deposit Insurance Corporation, the Unit Trust of India as the first mutual fund, the IDBI as an apex development bank, etc.
The 70s saw the nationalization of banks, which heralded a new era when banking was taken from the classes to the masses. This was also the period when banks performed a critical role in poverty alleviation programmes of the government.
In the 80s, we started sowing the seeds of libralisation following the recommendations of the Sukhomoy Chakrabarty Committee. We focused on developing markets in a sequenced and calibrated manner.
Early in the 90s, we headed into a balance of payments crisis. The stabilization and structural adjustment programmes that followed marked an inflexion point in India's economic and financial development. Banking sector reforms helped strengthen the banking system and made it more competitive.
The new millennium brought with it a new momentum where India made a decisive break from the ‘Hindu rate' and shifted onto a higher growth trajectory. This was also the period when Basel II norms were adopted, the payments system was substantially revamped, and the focus shifted to issues of inclusion. India weathered the global financial crisis where the Reserve Banks' policy response and role brought it into a new public focus.
As we turn into the second decade of the new millennium, our endeavour is to position the RBI as a knowledge institution; conduct outreach efforts as well as a financial literacy and inclusion drive; and finally make efforts to document the bank's history and traditions.