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. 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.

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]}

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

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.

India (ⁱ/ˈɪndiə/), officially the Republic of India (Bhārat Gaṇarājya), 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;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. 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.

A central bank, reserve bank, or monetary authority is a public institution that manages a nation's currency, money supply, and interest rates. Central banks also usually oversee the commercial banking system of their respective countries. In contrast to a commercial bank, a central bank possesses a monopoly on increasing the nation's monetary base, and usually also prints the national currency, which usually serves as the nation's legal tender. Examples include the European Central Bank (ECB), the Federal Reserve of the United States, and the People's Bank of China.

The primary function of a central bank is to manage the nation's money supply (monetary policy), through active duties such as managing interest rates, setting the reserve requirement, and acting as a lender of last resort to the banking sector during times of bank insolvency or financial crisis. Central banks usually also have supervisory powers, intended to prevent commercial banks and other financial institutions from reckless or fraudulent behavior. Central banks in most developed nations are institutionally designed to be independent from political interference.