Reserve Bank of India भारतीय रिज़र्व बैंक
RBI seal RBI headquarters in Mumbai
Headquarters	Mumbai, Maharashtra
Established	1 April 1935
Governor	Duvvuri Subbarao
Currency	Indian rupee (₹)
ISO 4217 Code	INR
Reserves	US$30,210 crore (US$302.1 billion)[1][Note 1]
Base borrowing rate	8.00%
Base deposit rate	6.00%
Website	http://www.rbi.org.in

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) (Hindi: भारतीय रिज़र्व बैंक) is India's central banking institution, which controls the monetary policy of the Indian rupee. It was established on 1 April 1935 during the British Raj in accordance with the provisions of the Reserve Bank of India Act, 1934. The share capital was divided into shares of ₹100 each fully paid which was entirely owned by private shareholders in the beginning.^[2] Following India's independence in 1947, the RBI was nationalised in the year 1949.

The RBI plays an important part in the development strategy of the Government of India. It is a member bank of the Asian Clearing Union. The general superintendence and direction of the RBI is entrusted with the 20-member-strong Central Board of Directors—the Governor (currently Duvvuri Subbarao), four Deputy Governors, one Finance Ministry representative, ten Government-nominated Directors to represent important elements from India's economy, and four Directors to represent Local Boards headquartered at Mumbai, Kolkata, Chennai and New Delhi. Each of these Local Boards consist of five members who represent regional interests, as well as the interests of co-operative and indigenous banks.

History[link]

1935–1950[link]

The old RBI Building in Mumbai

The Reserve Bank of India was founded on 1 April 1935 to respond to economic troubles after the First World War,^[3] The Bank was set up based on the recommendations of the 1926 Royal Commission on Indian Currency and Finance, also known as the Hilton–Young Commission.^[4] The original choice for the seal of RBI was The East India Company Double Mohur, with the sketch of the Lion and Palm Tree. However it was decided to replace the lion with the tiger, the national animal of India. The Preamble of the RBI describes its basic functions to regulate the issue of bank notes, keep reserves to secure monetary stability in India, and generally to operate the currency and credit system in the best interests of the country. The Central Office of the RBI was initially established in Calcutta (now Kolkata), but was permanently moved to Bombay (now Mumbai) in 1937. The RBI also acted as Burma's central bank, except during the years of the Japanese occupation of Burma (1942–45), until April 1947, even though Burma seceded from the Indian Union in 1937. After the Partition of India in 1947, the Bank served as the central bank for Pakistan until June 1948 when the State Bank of Pakistan commenced operations. Though originally set up as a shareholders’ bank, the RBI has been fully owned by the Government of India since its nationalization in 1949.^[5]

1950–1960[link]

In the 1950s, the Indian government, under its first Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru, developed a centrally planned economic policy that focused on the agricultural sector. The administration nationalized commercial banks^[6] and established, based on the Banking Companies Act of 1949 (later called the Banking Regulation Act), a central bank regulation as part of the RBI. Furthermore, the central bank was ordered to support the economic plan with loans.^[7]

1960–1969[link]

As a result of bank crashes, the RBI was requested to establish and monitor a deposit insurance system. It should restore the trust in the national bank system and was initialized on 7 December 1961. The Indian government founded funds to promote the economy and used the slogan Developing Banking. The Government of India restructured the national bank market and nationalized a lot of institutes. As a result, the RBI had to play the central part of control and support of this public banking sector.

1969–1985[link]

In 1969, the Indira Gandhi-headed government nationalized 14 major commercial banks. Upon Gandhi's return to power in 1980, a further six banks were nationalized.^[4] The regulation of the economy and especially the financial sector was reinforced by the Government of India in the 1970s and 1980s.^[8] The central bank became the central player and increased its policies for a lot of tasks like interests, reserve ratio and visible deposits.^[9] These measures aimed at better economic development and had a huge effect on the company policy of the institutes. The banks lent money in selected sectors, like agri-business and small trade companies.^[10]

The branch was forced to establish two new offices in the country for every newly established office in a town.^[11] The oil crises in 1973 resulted in increasing inflation, and the RBI restricted monetary policy to reduce the effects.^[12]

1985–1991[link]

A lot of committees analysed the Indian economy between 1985 and 1991. Their results had an effect on the RBI. The Board for Industrial and Financial Reconstruction, the Indira Gandhi Institute of Development Research and the Security & Exchange Board of India investigated the national economy as a whole, and the security and exchange board proposed better methods for more effective markets and the protection of investor interests. The Indian financial market was a leading example for so-called "financial repression" (Mackinnon and Shaw).^[13] The Discount and Finance House of India began its operations on the monetary market in April 1988; the National Housing Bank, founded in July 1988, was forced to invest in the property market and a new financial law improved the versatility of direct deposit by more security measures and liberalisation.^[14]

1991–2000[link]

The national economy came down in July 1991 and the Indian rupee was devalued.^[15] The currency lost 18% relative to the US dollar, and the Narsimahmam Committee advised restructuring the financial sector by a temporal reduced reserve ratio as well as the statutory liquidity ratio. New guidelines were published in 1993 to establish a private banking sector. This turning point should reinforce the market and was often called neo-liberal.^[16] The central bank deregulated bank interests and some sectors of the financial market like the trust and property markets.^[17] This first phase was a success and the central government forced a diversity liberalisation to diversify owner structures in 1998.^[18]

The National Stock Exchange of India took the trade on in June 1994 and the RBI allowed nationalized banks in July to interact with the capital market to reinforce their capital base. The central bank founded a subsidiary company—the Bharatiya Reserve Bank Note Mudran Limited—in February 1995 to produce banknotes.^[19]

Since 2000[link]

The Foreign Exchange Management Act from 1999 came into force in June 2000. It should improve the foreign exchange market, international investments in India and transactions. The RBI promoted the development of the financial market in the last years, allowed online banking in 2001 and established a new payment system in 2004–2005 (National Electronic Fund Transfer).^[20] The Security Printing & Minting Corporation of India Ltd., a merger of nine institutions, was founded in 2006 and produces banknotes and coins.^[21]

The national economy's growth rate came down to 5.8% in the last quarter of 2008–2009^[22] and the central bank promotes the economic development.^[23]

Structure[link]

RBI runs a monetary museum in Mumbai

Central Board of Directors[link]

The Central Board of Directors is the main committee of the central bank. The Government of India appoints the directors for a four-year term. The Board consists of a governor, four deputy governors, fifteen directors to represent the regional boards, one from the Ministry of Finance and ten other directors from various fields.

Governors[link]

The current Governor of RBI is Duvvuri Subbarao. The RBI extended the period of the present governor up to 2013. There are four deputy governors, currently^[update] K. C. Chakrabarty, Subir Gokarn, Anand Sinha and Harun Rashid Khan

Supportive bodies[link]

The Reserve Bank of India has four regional representations: North in New Delhi, South in Chennai, East in Kolkata and West in Mumbai. The representations are formed by five members, appointed for four years by the central government and serve—beside the advice of the Central Board of Directors—as a forum for regional banks and to deal with delegated tasks from the central board.^[24] The institution has 22 regional offices.

The Board of Financial Supervision (BFS), formed in November 1994, serves as a CCBD committee to control the financial institutions. It has four members, appointed for two years, and takes measures to strength the role of statutory auditors in the financial sector, external monitoring and internal controlling systems.

The Tarapore committee was set up by the Reserve Bank of India under the chairmanship of former RBI deputy governor S. S. Tarapore to "lay the road map" to capital account convertibility. The five-member committee recommended a three-year time frame for complete convertibility by 1999–2000.

On 1 July 2007, in an attempt to enhance the quality of customer service and strengthen the grievance redressal mechanism, the Reserve Bank of India created a new customer service department.

Offices and branches[link]

The Reserve Bank of India has 4 zonal offices.^[25] It has 19 regional offices at most state capitals and at a few major cities in India. Few of them are located in Ahmedabad, Bangalore, Bhopal, Bhubaneswar, Chandigarh, Chennai, Delhi, Guwahati, Hyderabad, Jaipur, Jammu, Kanpur, Kolkata, Lucknow, Mumbai, Nagpur, Patna, and Thiruvananthapuram. Besides it has 09 sub-offices at Agartala, Dehradun, Gangtok, Kochi, Panaji, Raipur, Ranchi, Shimla and Srinagar.

The bank has also two training colleges for its officers, viz. Reserve Bank Staff College at Chennai and College of Agricultural Banking at Pune. There are also four Zonal Training Centres at Belapur, Chennai, Kolkata and New Delhi.

Main functions[link]

Reserve Bank of India regional office, Delhi entrance with the Yakshini sculpture depicting "Prosperity through agriculture".^[26]

The RBI Regional Office in Delhi.

The regional offices of GPO (in white) and RBI (in sandstone) at Dalhousie Square, Kolkata.

Bank of Issue[link]

Under Section 22 of the Reserve Bank of India Act, the Bank has the sole right to issue bank notes of all denominations. The distribution of one rupee notes and coins and small coins all over the country is undertaken by the Reserve Bank as agent of the Government. The Reserve Bank has a separate Issue Department which is entrusted with the issue of currency notes. The assets and liabilities of the Issue Department are kept separate from those of the Banking Department. Originally, the assets of the Issue Department were to consist of not less than two-fifths of gold coin, gold bullion or sterling securities provided the amount of gold was not less than ₹40 crore (₹400 million) in value. The remaining three-fifths of the assets might be held in rupee coins, Government of India rupee securities, eligible bills of exchange and promissory notes payable in India. Due to the exigencies of the Second World War and the post-war period, these provisions were considerably modified. Since 1957, the Reserve Bank of India is required to maintain gold and foreign exchange reserves of ₹200 crore (₹2 billion), of which at least ₹115 crore (₹1.15 billion) should be in gold and ₹85 crore (₹850 million) in the form of Government Securities.^{[citation needed]} The system as it exists today is known as the minimum reserve system.

Monetary authority[link]

The Reserve Bank of India is the main monetary authority of the country and beside that the central bank acts as the bank of the national and state governments. It formulates, implements and monitors the monetary policy as well as it has to ensure an adequate flow of credit to productive sectors. Objectives are maintaining price stability and ensuring adequate flow of credit to productive sectors. The national economy depends on the public sector and the central bank promotes an expansive monetary policy to push the private sector since the financial market reforms of the 1990s.^[27]

The institution is also the regulator and supervisor of the financial system and prescribes broad parameters of banking operations within which the country's banking and financial system functions. Objectives are to maintain public confidence in the system, protect depositors' interest and provide cost-effective banking services to the public. The Banking Ombudsman Scheme has been formulated by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) for effective addressing of complaints by bank customers. The RBI controls the monetary supply, monitors economic indicators like the gross domestic product and has to decide the design of the rupee banknotes as well as coins.^[28]

Manager of exchange control[link]

The central bank manages to reach the goals of the Foreign Exchange Management Act, 1999. Objective: to facilitate external trade and payment and promote orderly development and maintenance of foreign exchange market in India.

Issuer of currency[link]

The bank issues and exchanges or destroys currency and coins not fit for circulation. The objectives are giving the public adequate supply of currency of good quality and to provide loans to commercial banks to maintain or improve the GDP. The basic objectives of RBI are to issue bank notes, to maintain the currency and credit system of the country to utilize it in its best advantage, and to maintain the reserves. RBI maintains the economic structure of the country so that it can achieve the objective of price stability as well as economic development, because both objectives are diverse in themselves.

Developmental role[link]

The central bank had to perform a wide range of promotional functions to support national objectives and industries.^[7] The RBI faces a lot of inter-sectoral and local inflation-related problems. Some of this problems are results of the dominant part of the public sector.^[29]

Related functions[link]

The RBI is also a banker to the government and performs merchant banking function for the central and the state governments. It also acts as their banker. The National Housing Bank (NHB) was established in 1988 to promote private real estate acquisition.^[30] The institution maintains banking accounts of all scheduled banks, too.

Policy rates and reserve ratios[link]

Bank Rate: RBI lends to the commercial banks through its discount window to help the banks meet depositor’s demands and reserve requirements. The interest rate the RBI charges the banks for this purpose is called bank rate. If the RBI wants to increase the liquidity and money supply in the market, it will decrease the bank rate and if it wants to reduce the liquidity and money supply in the system, it will increase the bank rate. As of 13 Feb, 2012 the bank rate was 9.5%.

Cash Reserve Ratio (CRR): Every commercial bank has to keep certain minimum cash reserves with RBI. Consequent upon amendment to sub-Section 42(1), the Reserve Bank, having regard to the needs of securing the monetary stability in the country, RBI can prescribe Cash Reserve Ratio (CRR) for scheduled banks without any floor rate or ceiling rate ( [Before the enactment of this amendment, in terms of Section 42(1) of the RBI Act, the Reserve Bank could prescribe CRR for scheduled banks between 3% and 20% of total of their demand and time liabilities]. RBI uses this tool to increase or decrease the reserve requirement depending on whether it wants to affect a decrease or an increase in the money supply. An increase in Cash Reserve Ratio (CRR) will make it mandatory on the part of the banks to hold a large proportion of their deposits in the form of deposits with the RBI. This will reduce the size of their deposits and they will lend less. This will in turn decrease the money supply. The current rate is 4.75%. ( As on Date- 9 March, 2012).

Statutory Liquidity Ratio (SLR): Apart from the CRR, banks are required to maintain liquid assets in the form of gold, cash and approved securities. Higher liquidity ratio forces commercial banks to maintain a larger proportion of their resources in liquid form and thus reduces their capacity to grant loans and advances, thus it is an anti-inflationary impact. A higher liquidity ratio diverts the bank funds from loans and advances to investment in government and approved securities.

In well-developed economies, central banks use open market operations—buying and selling of eligible securities by central bank in the money market—to influence the volume of cash reserves with commercial banks and thus influence the volume of loans and advances they can make to the commercial and industrial sectors. In the open money market, government securities are traded at market related rates of interest. The RBI is resorting more to open market operations in the more recent years.

Generally RBI uses three kinds of selective credit controls:

1. Minimum margins for lending against specific securities.
2. Ceiling on the amounts of credit for certain purposes.
3. Discriminatory rate of interest charged on certain types of advances.

Direct credit controls in India are of three types:

1. Part of the interest rate structure i.e. on small savings and provident funds, are administratively set.
2. Banks are mandatory required to keep 24% of their deposits in the form of government securities.
3. Banks are required to lend to the priority sectors to the extent of 40% of their advances.

Further reading[link]

• S. L. N. Simha. History of the Reserve Bank of India, Volume 1: 1935–1951. RBI. 1970. ISBN 81-7596-247-X. (2005 reprint PDF)
• G. Balachandran. The Reserve Bank of India, 1951–1967. Oxford University Press. 1998. ISBN 0-19-564468-9. (PDF)
• A. Vasudevan et al. The Reserve Bank of India, Volume 3: 1967–1981. RBI. 2005. ISBN 81-7596-299-2. (PDF)
• Cecil Kisch: Review "The Monetary Policy of the Reserve Bank of India" by K. N. Raj. In: The Economic Journal. Vol. 59, No. 235 (Sep., 1949), pp. 436–438.
• Findlay G. Shirras: The Reserve Bank of India. In The Economic Journal. Vol. 44, No. 174 (Jun., 1934), pp. 258–274.
• Narenda Jadhav, Partha Ray, Dhritidyuti Bose, Indranil Sen Gupta: The Reserve Bank of India’s Balance Sheet: Analytics and Dynamics of Evolution, November 2004.

Notes[link]

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Reserve Bank of India

• Official website
• Reserve Bank of India Ombudsman site

v t e Banking in India Central bank Reserve Bank of India Nationalised banks Allahabad Bank Andhra Bank Bank of Baroda Bank of India Bank of Maharashtra Canara Bank Central Bank of India Corporation Bank Dena Bank IDBI Bank Indian Bank Indian Overseas Bank Oriental Bank of Commerce Punjab & Sind Bank Punjab National Bank Syndicate Bank UCO Bank Union Bank of India United Bank of India Vijaya Bank State Bank of India State Bank of Bikaner & Jaipur State Bank of Hyderabad State Bank of Indore State Bank of Mysore State Bank of Patiala State Bank of Travancore State Bank of Saurashtra Private banks Axis Bank Catholic Syrian Bank Dhanalakshmi Bank South Indian Bank City Union Bank Federal Bank HDFC Bank ICICI Bank IndusInd Bank ING Vysya Bank Jammu & Kashmir Bank Karnataka Bank Limited Karur Vysya Bank Kotak Mahindra Bank Lakshmi Vilas Bank Saraswat Bank Tamilnad Mercantile Bank Limited Yes Bank Development Credit Bank Foreign banks ABN AMRO Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank Antwerp Diamond Bank Bank International Indonesia Bank of America Bank of Bahrain and Kuwait Bank of Ceylon Bank of Nova Scotia The Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ Barclays Bank Citibank India Credit Suisse HSBC Standard Chartered Deutsche Bank Royal Bank of Scotland Regional Rural banks North Malabar Gramin Bank South Malabar Gramin Bank Vananchal Gramin Bank Financial Services Real Time Gross Settlement (RTGS) National Electronic Fund Transfer (NEFT) Structured Financial Messaging System (SFMS) CashTree Cashnet Automated Teller Machine (ATM) De-Materialisation (DEMAT) Foreign Exchange (FOREX)

Bank of India

200px
Type	Public (BSE: BOI)
Industry	Financial services
Founded	7 September 1906
Headquarters	Mumbai, India
Key people	Alok Kumar Misra (CMD)
Products	Commercial Banking Retail Banking Private Banking Asset Management Mortgages Credit Cards
Revenue	24,393.50 crore (US$4.87 billion)[1] total_asset = 364,556.48 crore (US$72.73 billion)[2]
Operating income	5,384.23 crore (US$1.07 billion)[3]
Net income	2,488.71 crore (US$496.5 million)[4]
Website	www.bankofindia.com

Bank of India (BoI) (BSE: BOI) is a state-owned commercial bank with headquarters in Mumbai. Government-owned since nationalization in 1969, It is India's 4th largest PSU bank, after State Bank of India, Punjab National Bank and Bank of Baroda. It has 4157 branches as on 21/04/2012, including 29 branches outside India, and about 1679 ATMs.^{[citation needed]} BoI is a founder member of SWIFT (Society for Worldwide Inter Bank Financial Telecommunications), which facilitates provision of cost-effective financial processing and communication services. The Bank completed its first one hundred years of operations on 7 September 2006.^{[citation needed]}

History[link]

Previous banks that used the name Bank of India[link]

At least three banks having the name Bank of India had preceded the setting up of the present Bank of India.

1. A person named Ramakishen Dutt set up the first Bank of India in Calcutta (now Kolkata) in 1828, but nothing more is known about this bank.
2. The second Bank of India was incorporated in London in the year 1836 as an Anglo-Indian bank.
3. The third bank named Bank of India was registered in Bombay (now Mumbai) in the year 1864.

The current bank[link]

Bank of India, Mumbai Main Branch

The earlier holders of the Bank of India name had failed and were no longer in existence by the time a diverse group of Hindus, Muslims, Parsees, and Jews helped establish the present Bank of India in 1906. It was the first in India promoted by Indian interests to serve all the communities of India. At the time, banks in India were either owned by Europeans and served mainly the interests of the European merchant houses, or by different communities and served the banking needs of their own community.

The promoters incorporated the Bank of India on 7 September 1906 under Act VI of 1882, with an authorized capital of Rs. 1 crore divided into 100,000 shares each of Rs. 100. The promoters placed 55,000 shares privately, and issued 45,000 to the public by way of IPO on 3 October 1906; the bank commenced operations on 1 November 1906.

The lead promoter of the Bank of India was Sir Sassoon J. David (1849-1926). He was a member of the Sassoons, who in turn were part of a Bombay community of Baghdadi Jews, which was notable for its history of social service. Sir David was a prudent banker and remained the Chief Executive of the bank from its founding in 1906 until his death in 1926.

The first board of directors of the bank consisted of Sir Sassoon David, Sir Cowasjee Jehangir, J. Cowasjee Jehangir, Sir Frederick Leigh Croft, Ratanjee Dadabhoy Tata, Gordhandas Khattau, Lalubhai Samaldas, Khetsety Khiasey, Ramnarain Hurnundrai, Jenarrayen Hindoomull Dani, Noordin Ebrahim Noordin.

• 1906: BoI founded with Head Office in Bombay.
• 1921: BoI entered into an agreement with the Bombay Stock Exchange to manage its clearing house.
• 1946: BoI opened a branch in London, the first Indian bank to do so. This was also the first post-WWII overseas branch of any Indian bank.
• 1950: BoI opened branches in Tokyo and Osaka.
• 1951: BoI opened a branch in Singapore.
• 1953: BoI opened a branch in Kenya and another in Uganda.
• 1953 or 54: BoI opened a branch in Aden.
• 1955: BoI opened a branch in Tanganyika.
• 1960: BoI opened a branch in Hong Kong.
• 1962: BoI opened a branch in Nigeria.
• 1967: The Government of Tanzania nationalized BoI's operations in Tanzania and folded them into the government-owned National Commercial Bank, together with those of Bank of Baroda and several other foreign banks.
• 1969: The Government of India nationalized the 14 top banks, including Bank of India. In the same year, the People's Democratic Republic of Yemen nationalized BoI's branch in Aden, and the Nigerian and Ugandan governments forced BoI to incorporate its branches in those countries.
• 1970: National Bank of Southern Yemen incorporated BoI's branch in Yemen, together with those of all the other banks in the country; this is now National Bank of Yemen. BoI was the only Indian bank in the country.
• 1972: BoI sold its Uganda operation to Bank of Baroda.
• 1973: BoI opened a rep in Jakarta.
• 1974: BoI opened a branch in Paris. This was the first branch of an Indian bank in Europe.
• 1976: The Nigerian government acquired 60% of the shares in Bank of India (Nigeria).
• 1978: BoI opened a branch in New York.
• 1970s: BoI opened an agency in San Francisco.
• 1980: Bank of India (Nigeria) Ltd, changed its name to Allied Bank of Nigeria.
• 1986: BoI acquired Paravur Central Bank (Karur Central Bank or Parur Central Bank) in Kerala in a rescue.
• 1987: BoI took over the three UK branches of Central Bank of India (CBI). CBI had been caught up in the Sethia fraud and default and the Reserve Bank of India required it to transfer its branches.
• 2003: BoI opened a representative office in Shenzhen.
• 2005: BoI opened a representative office in Vietnam.
• 2006: BoI plans to upgrade the Shenzen and Vietnam representative offices to branches, and to open representative offices in Beijing, Doha, and Johannesburg. In addition, BoI plans to establish a branch in Antwerp and a subsidiary in Dar-es-Salaam, marking its return to Tanzania after 37 years.
• 2007: BoI acquired 76 percent of Indonesia-based PT Bank Swadesi.
• 2011: BoI opened a fully owened Subsidairay in Auckland, New Zealand on 6th October,2011 (Bank of India (New Zealand) Ltd.)

CMD since nationalisation[link]

• 1969-1970: Tribhovandas Damodardas Kansara
• 1970-1975: J N Saxena
• 1975-1977: C P Shah
• 1977-1980: H C Sarkar
• 1981-1984: N Vaghul
• 1984-1986: T. Tiwari
• 1987-1991: R. Srinivasan
• 1992-1995: G. S. Dahotre
• 1995-1997: G. Kathuria
• 1997-1998: M G Bhide
• 1998-2000: S Rajagopal
• 2000-2003: K V Krishanamurthy
• 2003-2005: M Venugopal
• 2005-2007: M. Balachandran
• 2007-2009:T.S.Narayanasami
• 2009-  : Alok Kumar Mishra

See also[link]

• Indian banking
• List of banks in India

References[link]

External links[link]

• Official website

v t e Central PSU companies of India Air India Balmer Lawrie Bank of India Bharat Electronics Bharat Heavy Electricals Limited Bharat Petroleum Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited Cement Corporation of India Coal India Limited Dredging Corporation of India Limited Electronics Corporation of India Limited Food Corporation of India GAIL Hindustan Aeronautics Limited HMT (India) Indian Oil Corporation Indian Rare Earths Limited Life Insurance Corporation of India Mazagon Dock Limited MECON Limited Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Limited NTPC Limited Nuclear Power Corporation of India Ltd Oil and Natural Gas Corporation PowerGrid Corporation of India Praga Tools Limited Rashtriya Ispat Nigam Rural Electrification Corporation Limited State Bank of India Steel Authority of India Limited Uranium Corporation of India

v t e Banking in India Central bank Reserve Bank of India Nationalised banks Allahabad Bank Andhra Bank Bank of Baroda Bank of India Bank of Maharashtra Canara Bank Central Bank of India Corporation Bank Dena Bank IDBI Bank Indian Bank Indian Overseas Bank Oriental Bank of Commerce Punjab & Sind Bank Punjab National Bank Syndicate Bank UCO Bank Union Bank of India United Bank of India Vijaya Bank State Bank of India State Bank of Bikaner & Jaipur State Bank of Hyderabad State Bank of Indore State Bank of Mysore State Bank of Patiala State Bank of Travancore State Bank of Saurashtra Private banks Axis Bank Catholic Syrian Bank Dhanalakshmi Bank South Indian Bank City Union Bank Federal Bank HDFC Bank ICICI Bank IndusInd Bank ING Vysya Bank Jammu & Kashmir Bank Karnataka Bank Limited Karur Vysya Bank Kotak Mahindra Bank Lakshmi Vilas Bank Saraswat Bank Tamilnad Mercantile Bank Limited Yes Bank Development Credit Bank Foreign banks ABN AMRO Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank Antwerp Diamond Bank Bank International Indonesia Bank of America Bank of Bahrain and Kuwait Bank of Ceylon Bank of Nova Scotia The Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ Barclays Bank Citibank India Credit Suisse HSBC Standard Chartered Deutsche Bank Royal Bank of Scotland Regional Rural banks North Malabar Gramin Bank South Malabar Gramin Bank Vananchal Gramin Bank Financial Services Real Time Gross Settlement (RTGS) National Electronic Fund Transfer (NEFT) Structured Financial Messaging System (SFMS) CashTree Cashnet Automated Teller Machine (ATM) De-Materialisation (DEMAT) Foreign Exchange (FOREX)

Republic of India Bhārat Gaṇarājya
Flag Emblem
Motto:  "Satyameva Jayate" (Sanskrit)    "Truth Alone Triumphs"[1]
Anthem:  Jana Gana Mana    "Thou Art the Ruler of the Minds of All People"[2]
National song: Vande Mataram         "I Bow to Thee, Mother"[a][1]
Area controlled by India is in dark green. Claimed but uncontrolled regions are in light green.
Capital		New Delhi 28°36.8′N 77°12.5′E / 28.6133°N 77.2083°E / 28.6133; 77.2083
Largest city		Mumbai
Official language(s)		Hindi, English Hindi in the Devanagari script is the official language of the Union and English an additional language for official work.[1]
Recognised regional languages		Eighth Schedule Assamese Bengali Bodo Dogri Gujarati Hindi Kannada Kashmiri Konkani Maithili Malayalam Manipuri Marathi Nepali Oriya Punjabi Sanskrit Santali Sindhi Tamil Telugu Urdu
National language(s)		none[3]
Demonym		Indian
Government		Federal parliamentary constitutional republic[1]
-	President	Pratibha Patil
-	Vice President	Mohammad Hamid Ansari
-	Prime Minister	Manmohan Singh (INC)
-	Speaker of the House	Meira Kumar (INC)
-	Chief Justice	S. H. Kapadia
Legislature		Parliament of India
-	Upper house	Rajya Sabha
-	Lower house	Lok Sabha
Independence		from the United Kingdom
-	Declared	15 August 1947
-	Republic	26 January 1950
Area
-	Total	3,287,263 km2 [b](7th) 1,269,219 sq mi
-	Water (%)	9.56
Population
-	2011 census	1,210,193,422[4] (2nd)
-	Density	369.1/km2 (31st) 956.1/sq mi
GDP (PPP)		2011 estimate
-	Total	$4.457 trillion[5] (3rd)
-	Per capita	$3,693[5] (129th)
GDP (nominal)		2011 estimate
-	Total	$1.676 trillion[5] (11th)
-	Per capita	$1,388[5] (140th)
Gini (2004)		36.8[6] (79th)
HDI (2011)		0.547[7] (medium) (134th)
Currency		Indian rupee () (INR)
Time zone		IST (UTC+05:30)
-	Summer (DST)	not observed (UTC+05:30)
Date formats		dd-mm-yyyy (AD)
Drives on the		left
ISO 3166 code		IN
Internet TLD		.in other TLDs .ভারত .ભારત .भारत .ଭାରତ‌ .ਭਾਰਤ .இந்தியா .భారత్ بھارت.
Calling code		91

India (ⁱ/ˈɪndiə/), officially the Republic of India (Bhārat Gaṇarājya),^[c] is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the south, the Arabian Sea on the south-west, and the Bay of Bengal on the south-east, it shares land borders with Pakistan to the west;^[d] China, Nepal, and Bhutan to the north-east; and Burma and Bangladesh to the east. In the Indian Ocean, India is in the vicinity of Sri Lanka and the Maldives; in addition, India's Andaman and Nicobar Islands share a maritime border with Thailand and Indonesia.

Home to the ancient Indus Valley Civilisation and a region of historic trade routes and vast empires, the Indian subcontinent was identified with its commercial and cultural wealth for much of its long history.^[8] Four of the world's major religions—Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism, and Sikhism—originated here, whereas Zoroastrianism, Christianity, and Islam arrived in the 1st millennium CE and also helped shape the region's diverse culture. Gradually annexed by and brought under the administration of the British East India Company from the early 18th century and administered directly by the United Kingdom from the mid-19th century, India became an independent nation in 1947 after a struggle for independence that was marked by non-violent resistance led by Mahatma Gandhi.

The Indian economy is the world's eleventh-largest by nominal GDP and third-largest by purchasing power parity (PPP). Following market-based economic reforms in 1991, India became one of the fastest-growing major economies; it is considered a newly industrialised country. However, it continues to face the challenges of poverty, illiteracy, corruption, and inadequate public healthcare. A nuclear weapons state and a regional power, it has the third-largest standing army in the world and ranks ninth in military expenditure among nations. India is a federal constitutional republic governed under a parliamentary system consisting of 28 states and 7 union territories. India is a pluralistic, multilingual, and multiethnic society. It is also home to a diversity of wildlife in a variety of protected habitats.