2 Indian Economy Book V Edition Vivek Singh
2 Indian Economy Book V Edition Vivek Singh
2 Indian Economy Book V Edition Vivek Singh
me/VivekSingh_Economy]
2.1 Introduction
In earlier times, economic transactions used to happen as barter exchanges i.e. one
commodity is exchanged for the other commodity. But for barter exchanges to happen there
must be double coincidence of wants i.e. there should be diametrically opposite demand
of the two parties doing the exchange. Consider, for example, an individual has a surplus of
rice which he wishes to exchange for wheat. If he is not lucky enough, he may not be able to
find another person who has the diametrically opposite demand for rice with a surplus of
wheat to offer in exchange. The process can become very cumbersome in case of a large
economy. To smoothen the transaction, an intermediate "commodity" is necessary which is
acceptable to both the parties. The individuals can then sell their produce for this
commodity and use this commodity to purchase the other goods that they need. Now what
should be the characteristics of this commodity?
But there were problems associated with this also. Suppose there is a country (economy)
where people are buying and selling goods and services with the help of the gold coins. If
the production of goods and services (GDP) is increasing every year then the country may
require more gold coins for transaction of the increased goods and services. If the supply of
gold coins is not keeping pace with the increase in goods and services then there could
again be problems in transaction process. And the other problem associated with this
system was, every time a person is purchasing a commodity, he needs to carry the physical
gold with him.
Now, suppose there is a person X in the economy whom everybody used to trust. One day
an individual say A deposited his physical gold with the person X and he issued the
individual A, a paper slip with his signature and the amount of gold written on that slip
(suppose 1 milligram). When this person A went in the market to purchase goods worth 1
milligram (mg) of gold from a person B, then rather than offering 1 mg of gold, A offered the
paper slip to B that X had signed. B willingly accepted that paper slip from A as B also
knew and trusted that person X, and had trust that whenever he will go to X and offer him
the paper slip, he will get 1 mg of gold. In the same way everybody in the economy
deposited their gold with the trustworthy person X and in return got paper slips and started
buying and selling goods with these paper slips. These paper slips became the currency
"Rupee" and X is the RBI.
Still, if the production of goods and services is increasing every year, then we require
more Rupees and if we do not have gold how will we get the Rupee. In such a situation,
RBI used to issue the paper slips without the deposition of physical gold (but by keeping
some other assets). So, if the production of goods and services (i.e. the output) are
increasing in the economy, then RBI can issue more Rupee currency notes (by accepting
some other assets) to facilitate transaction in the economy. The logic is if RBI is issuing the
currency notes then it must be backed by some asset (not necessarily gold).
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Now we have a huge population and if all the people are going to transact with RBI asking
for Rupee notes or deposition of gold then it will be very difficult for RBI to manage them.
So, a layer of commercial banks was created between RBI and the public.
If the production of goods and services in the economy is increasing, to facilitate the
transaction we require more money in the system. So generally, money (supply) in the
economy shall increase proportionately with the increase (nominal) in production of goods
and services.
Seigniorage: Seigniorage refers to the profit from money creation and, thus, is a way for
governments to generate revenue without levying conventional taxes. Seigniorage is the
profit that accrues to the central banks by in the following ways:
(i) While issuing currency, the reserves/backup that the RBI keeps with itself, these
reserves give RBI interest Income on the total amount of currency in circulation (minus
cost of printing currency)
(ii) Interest accruing from bank balances with central banks arises from funds banks have
to hold with the central banks to meet their reserve requirements (CRR), either as
interest-free balances or at below market interest rates.
(iii) the inflation tax concept which is measured as the product of the inflation rate and the
monetary base. (Because of inflation the currency note that the public is holding loses
value which reduces the liability of RBI in real terms)
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Before 1993:
Since independence and till 1993, India used to fix its exchange rate with respect to dollar
and other major currencies and depending on economic situation, whenever required it
used to adjust or devalue and revalue the rupee. This is called "Fixed and Adjustable"
exchange rate system.
In 1947, the nominal exchange rate was $1 = Rs. 1, but due to continued adverse Balance
of Payment (BoP) situation and relatively higher inflation in India as compared to other
major trading partners, we used to devalue the rupee because of which it reached to $1 =
Rs. 31 by 1993. (A country goes for devaluation of its currency to correct its adverse Balance
of Payment situation so that its exports get cheaper and import becomes costlier). Let us
understand with an example:
India US
Burger Price Rs. 10 $1
In this case US will import the burgers from India as in $1 they will get Rs. 20 and in Rs. 20
they will get 2 burgers in India, so India will export burgers to US.
But if due to inflation the burger price in India becomes Rs. 20 then exports from India will
stop (i.e. inflation in India is making its exports less competitive).
But in that situation when price has increased to Rs. 20, if RBI devalues the exchange rate
to $1 = Rs. 30 then again exports from India will start. Because now foreigners will get Rs.
30 in $1 and in Rs. 30 they will get one and a half burger in India.
Hence, to increase its exports and improve the balance of payment situation, India
consistently devalued its currency till 1993.
After 1993:
After 1993, RBI left the rupee to the market forces of demand and supply i.e. floating
exchange rate. Floating exchange rate implies that its value will depend/float as per the
market forces of demand and supply of the currency in the market and the Central bank of
the country will not manipulate it.
For example, if more and more foreign investors are trying to come to India for investment
purpose then they will try to sell their foreign currency and purchase rupees as they can
invest in India in Indian Rupee only. As they will try to purchase more and more Indian
Rupees the demand of Rupees will increase and it will appreciate. If the opposite happens
and investors start leaving India then they will sell their investments in India in Rupee and
purchase the foreign currency which will lead to increase in demand of foreign currency
and the Rupee will start depreciating.
Let us take another example to understand why Rupee depreciated against Dollar
continuously after 1993:
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Money and Banking – Part I [t.me/VivekSingh_Economy]
India US
Burger Price Rs. 20 $1
In this case US will import the burgers from India as in $1 they will get Rs. 40 and in Rs. 40
they will get 2 burgers in India, so India will export burgers to US.
But if due to inflation the burger price in India has started increasing and becomes Rs. 30
then exports from India will start declining which in another way implies that demand for
rupees will start declining. The decline in rupee demand will depreciate the rupee exchange
rate and it may move to $1 = Rs. 50 which again will push the export of burgers from India
as US people will get more burgers at $1 = Rs. 50 exchange rates than $1 = Rs. 40.
So, when our exchange rate was fixed and adjustable (before 1993) and there was
comparatively high inflation in India or BoP issues, then RBI used to devalue rupee to make
our exports competitive. Now after 1993, when India faced higher inflation as compared to the
other countries, its currency (rupee) automatically depreciated due to market forces of demand
and supply.
Free Float: Under this system, the Central bank of the country never intervenes in the
foreign exchange market and the currency price is totally left to the demand and supply
forces i.e. market forces. For example, US, Japan and some European countries.
Managed Float: Under this system, the Central bank sometimes intervenes in the
market to buy and sell foreign currencies in case the domestic currency becomes very
volatile. For example, Indian Rupee is managed float. So, if the Rupee has become very
volatile and is depreciating against dollar then, RBI starts selling dollars in the market
from its foreign exchange reserves to check the appreciation of dollar and keep the
rupee stable and prevent its depreciation. In case of India, RBI intervenes in the foreign
exchange market to contain volatility in the rupee and not to set any price band.
2.4 Securities
Securities are financial instruments (receipts/slips) which promises return (payment) in
future and which are tradable. For example, suppose somebody deposited Rs. 1 lakh in his
account and got an account statement/ pass book. The person who is holding the account
statement will receive interest in future but he is not allowed to sell this paper (account
statement) in the market. Hence the account statement is not considered as a security in a
strict sense. Securities can be broadly categorized into two categories viz. equity and debt.
Security
Equity Debt
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gains (share price appreciation). Equity securities entitle the holder to some control of
the company on a proportionate basis i.e. the equity holders get voting rights and thus
some control of the business.
2. Debt security represents money that is borrowed and must be repaid with terms that
define the amount borrowed, interest rate and maturity date. Holders of debt security
receive interest and repayment of the principal.
The entity (company) that issues the securities is known as the issuer of security.
Whenever a person invests (puts money) in a company/ project, then this investment can
be done broadly in two ways.
1. By purchase of equity securities. In this case the investor puts the money in the
company and gets a share in the ownership of the company. In this case the person
does not get any fixed return but receives profit/ dividend based on the performance of
the company. This is the form of purchase of equity securities of the company by the
investor.
2. By purchase of debt securities. In this case the investor puts the money in the
company at a fix interest rate for a specific period of time and receives interest
(regularly) and principal back at the end of maturity period. This is the form of purchase
of debt securities of the company by the investor.
The owner/entrepreneur initially puts up some money say Rs. 1 crore in the company
(which will be deposited in the company's account) and the company in return issues him
an ‘ownership document’/ share. The cash in the account of the company will be an asset
for the company as the company can do anything with that cash of Rs. 1 crore. Against this
amount the company will be issuing a document to the owner which will represent 100%
ownership in the company, and will be represented on the liability side of the company as a
statement "owner's money" or "shareholders money". The ownership document or the share
is asset for the owner but will act as liability for the company. This transaction will look like
the following:
"XYZ Pvt. Ltd."
Asset Liability
Rs. 1 cr Rs. 1 cr
If the company is expanding its business and wants more funds then it may approach a
bank. Suppose the bank gave loan to the company worth Rs. 2 crore. The cash that the
company got will be an asset for the company but the company will have to sign a "loan
document" representing Rs. 2 crore loan to the company and this loan document will be a
liability for the company (represented on the liability side as Bank Loan) and asset for the
Bank. This transaction will look like:
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Rs. 3 cr Rs. 3 cr
If the company wants more funds, then it may approach the individual people i.e. retail
market to put in money into the company at a particular/fixed interest rate (similar to
the way people put money in banks). Suppose the company approached 1 lakh individuals
who could invest Rs. 100 each (total = Rs. 1 crore) for 5 years in the company at a fixed
interest rate of 10% (just assume that banks were offering 9% interest rate, so company
offered 1% more). People have decided to put money in the company rather than banks as
the company was offering higher interest rate as compared to the banks. This transaction
will increase the assets of the company by Rs. 1 crore and the liabilities of the company will
also increase by 1 crore. The company will issue paper "slips" worth Rs. 100 to the
individuals which will be assets for the individuals but will act as liability for the company.
The slips will look like.
"Slips"
XYZ Pvt. Ltd.
Value = Rs. 100 Bank Interest Rate = 9%
Time = 5 years
Interest Rate = 10%
Now, after some time, if the banks increase their interest rate to 12% due to changes in the
economic conditions then the people holding the "slips" will try to get rid of the slips as the
slip is offering them just 10% interest rate. But if they would go in the market to sell the
slips, nobody would be willing to purchase these slips in the market at Rs. 100 because
why anybody will purchase the slips at 10% interest rate if they can deposit Rs. 100 in
banks and can earn 12% interest rate. So, the slip holders will offer the slips at a
discounted/lower price if they want it to be sold in the market. But what shall be that
lesser price.
Anybody will be willing to purchase the slips if they can earn higher interest rate on slips as
compared to what is being offered in the market i.e. 12%. Suppose a purchaser purchases
this slip in Rs. 80 from the market. Let us see his earning or interest rate.
Hence the purchaser will purchase this slip in Rs. 80 as he is getting a higher return (which
is also called yield) of 12.5% as compared to the bank interest rate of 12%. Why the person
who had initially purchased the slip will sell the slip in Rs. 80? Because he thinks that if
the bank interest rate rises further to say 13% or 14%, nobody would be willing to purchase
the slip even in Rs. 80. (All trading activity happens based on future projections). These slips
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are called bonds. So, bonds prices in the market decrease when the bank interest rate
rises. And the bonds prices in the market increase when the bank interest rate falls. The
company's balance sheet will look like:
"XYZ Pvt. Ltd."
Asset Liability
Rs. 4 cr Rs. 4 cr
If the company converts its cash to purchase building and machinery then the balance
sheet will look like:
"XYZ Pvt. Ltd."
Asset Liability
Rs. 4 cr Rs. 4 cr
Now, suppose the company is making profit and more and more people want to invest in
the company and become owners. Let us assume that one lakh people invested Rs. 100
each (total Rs. 1 crore) to become owners in the company and the company purchased
machinery with this Rs. 1 crore cash. The balance sheet will look like:
Rs. 5 cr Rs. 5 cr
Now the value of the owners in the company will be Rs. 2 crore representing 100%
ownership. And the new owners would like to hold the ownership/share document in
proportion to their ownership. So, the ownership document that the initial entrepreneur
was holding (whose value has now become Rs. 2 crore) will be divided into two lakh pieces.
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So now, 100% ownership = Rs. 2 crore = 2 lakh shares x Value of each share
Hence, value of each share = Rs. 100
The entrepreneur will be holding 50% ownership and one lakh shares of Rs. 100 each.
And the new one lakh owners will be holding combined 50% ownership with one share each
worth Rs. 100.
Now, if the company's assets increase either by increase in the valuation of the building or
because the company is making profit then the value of each share will increase. For
example, if the company makes Rs. 2 crore of profit, then this profit will be company's
assets (deposited in company's account) and the value of two lakh shares will become Rs. 4
crore, so the share price will increase to Rs. 200 per share. Hence company's share price
increases with increase in profit. The balance sheet will look like:
7 cr 7 cr
In the above example, investors are investing/putting money in the company in the
following two ways:
So, against the total assets, the company issues either debt or equity securities to the
investors and the same are represented in the company's account book on the liability side.
G-Secs are issued through auctions conducted by RBI. Auctions are conducted on the
electronic platform called the E-Kuber, the Core Banking Solution (CBS) platform of RBI.
Commercial banks, scheduled Urban Cooperative Banks (UCBs), Primary Dealers (PD),
insurance companies and provident funds are members of this platform. Foreign Portfolio
Investors (FPIs) also participate in this market. Individuals (retail investors) can also
participate directly in the Govt. securities market.
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Treasury Bills Cash Management Bills Dated Securities State Dev. Loans
1. Treasury bills or T-bills: These are short term debt instruments issued by the
Government of India for a maturity of less than one year. Treasury bills are zero coupon
securities and pay no interest. Instead, they are issued at a discount and redeemed at
the face value at maturity. For example, a 91-day Treasury bill of ₹100/- (face value)
may be issued at say ₹ 98.20, that is, at a discount of say, ₹1.80 and would be
redeemed at the face value of ₹100/-. (Treasury bills are traded in money market).
2. Cash Management Bills (CMB): In 2010, Government of India, in consultation with RBI
introduced a new short-term instrument, known as Cash Management Bills (CMBs), to
meet the temporary mismatches in the cash flow of the Government of India. The CMBs
have the generic character of T-bills but are issued for maturities less than 91 days.
3. Dated Securities: Dated central government securities have a tenor of more than one
year up to 40 years. They can be of different categories:
4. State Development Loans (SDL): State Governments also raise loans from the market
which are called SDLs with maturity more than one year. SDLs issued by the State
Governments also qualify for SLR.
Govt. Securities Market: This market is regulated and managed by RBI. When Govt.
(Central or State) wants money, the RBI raises money for them by issuing securities/bonds
in the Govt. Securities Market. First time the Govt. securities are issued in the Govt.
Securities Market (basically primary market transaction) and then secondary market
transactions also happen in the same market. All the four types of Govt. securities i.e.
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"Cash Management Bills", "Treasury Bills", "Dated Securities" and "State Development
Loans" are traded in the Govt. Securities Market.
Since the maturity of "Dated Securities" and "State Development Loans" are more than one
year, these Govt. securities are also traded in Capital Market like BSE/NSE
Since the maturity of "Cash Management Bills" and "Treasury Bills" are less than one year,
these Govt. securities are also traded in the Money Market.
Financial Market
A financial market is a market that brings buyers and sellers together to trade in financial
securities or assets such as stocks, bonds, derivatives, currencies etc. Financial markets
are broadly of two types.
1. Capital Market: Financial markets for buying and selling debt and equity securities. In
this market securities of medium and long term of more than one year are bought and
sold. Capital markets are of two types:
(i) Primary Market: It refers to the capital market where securities are created. It is in
this market that companies sell new shares and bonds for the first time (Initial
Public Offering, IPO). In this market transaction is between the issuer (company) of
security and the investor. In the securities example above, the market in which the
company issued bonds for the first time to one lakh investors is the primary market.
(ii) Secondary Market: Once the securities have been issued by the issuer in the
primary market, it gets traded in the secondary market among the investors. In this
market, investors trade the previously issued securities among themselves without
the involvement of the issuer of security (company). Example, Bombay Stock
Exchange. In the securities example, the market in which the investors started
buying and selling the bonds among themselves is a secondary market.
2. Money Market: A segment of the financial market in which financial instruments with
high liquidity and very short maturities (less than one year) are traded. Money
market instruments are basically debt instruments and include Call money, Repos,
Treasury Bills, Cash Management Bills, Commercial Paper, Certificate of Deposit and
Collateralized Borrowing and Lending Obligations (CBLO). The players who can trade in
the money market are financial institutions, commercial banks, central banks and
highly rated corporate/companies. These markets are less risky. Money Market can
also be classified as primary and secondary.
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Government Non-government
Government company means any company in which not less than 51% shares are
held by the Central government or by any state government or governments or partly by
the Central government and partly by one or more state governments and includes
subsidiary company of a government company.
Non-government companies are those which are not government companies and
defined as those companies where government ownership is less than 49% and majority
of the ownership lies with private individuals/companies.
Unlisted Public Company means a public company whose securities are not traded on
any stock exchange
Listed Public company means a company which has any of its securities
(shares/bonds) are listed on any recognized stock exchange. But in India, listed is in
reference to shares/equity securities.
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money in time form then again two kinds of account can be opened viz. Fixed Deposit
Account and Recurring Deposit Account.
Current Account
Demand Deposits
Savings Account
Time Deposits
Types of Deposits:
1. Demand Deposit: Funds held in demand deposits can be withdrawn at any time on
demand without any advance notice to the depository institution. Demand deposits can
be demanded by an account holder any time and there is no fixed term of maturity for
demand deposits. Banks issue cheques on this kind of deposits and cheques can be
drawn on these deposits and hence demand deposits are also called cheque-able
deposits.
2. Time Deposit: Funds held in time deposits can be withdrawn only by giving an advance
notice to the depository institution. The deposits are held for a specified time period or
maturity. Banks do not issue cheques on this kind of deposits and are hence non
cheque-able deposits. These are also called term deposits.
Types of Accounts:
1. Current Account: It is always a demand deposit A/c and the bank is obliged to pay the
money on demand. There is no limit on number of transactions and value of
transactions and these are the most liquid deposits. Current account is used mainly for
business purpose/ companies and never used for saving purpose. No interest is paid by
banks on these accounts and the banks charge certain service charge on these
accounts. Banks provide convenient operational facilities on these accounts and also
issue chequebooks.
2. Savings Account: This account is mainly for individuals. These are also demand
deposits but there are restrictions on the number of transactions and the value of
transactions during a specified period. Banks generally prescribe minimum balances in
the accounts in order to offset the cost of maintaining and servicing such deposits. The
deposits in these accounts earn interest.
3. Recurring Deposit Account: These are term deposits which are suitable for people who
do not have lump sum amount of savings but are ready to save small amount every
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month or quarterly or half yearly. Such deposits earn interest on the amount already
deposited as applicable to fixed deposits. It is best suited for child's education or
marriage purpose. Maturity is generally between 6 months to 10 years.
4. Fixed Deposit Account: These are term deposits with tenure varying from 7 days to 10
years. These deposits are for fixed term but can be withdrawn prematurely by giving an
advance notice to the bank and some penalty.
The different types of accounts which can be maintained by an NRI/PIO (An NRI is a person
resident outside India, who is a citizen of India or is a person of Indian origin) in India are:
1. Foreign Currency Non-Resident (FCNR) Account: This account can be maintained in any
freely convertible foreign currency but only in the form of term deposits. The interest
and principal are non-taxable and freely repatriable.
2. Non-Resident External (NRE) Account: This account can be maintained in Rupee in the
form of Current, Savings, Recurring or Fixed Deposit. The interest and principal are
non-taxable and freely repatriable.
3. Non-Resident Ordinary (NRO) Account: This account can be maintained in Rupee in the
form of Current, Savings, Recurring or Fixed Deposit. Principal and Interest are taxable
and has restricted repatriability. Income earned from Indian sources like rent, dividend,
pension can be deposited only in this account.
The One Rupee note is signed by the finance secretary (and printed by Govt.) as a testimony
that it is the base unit of the currency system.
Coins and One Rupee note are minted/printed by the government of India and hence
constitute the liability of Government of India. As part of the circulation process, RBI
buys the one rupee note and minted coins from the Government of India and hence the
coins and one rupee note come and sit under the asset section of RBI’s balance sheet.
All banknotes (except one rupee note) issued by RBI are backed by assets such as gold,
Government Securities and Foreign Currency Assets, as defined in Section 33 of RBI Act,
1934.
“I promise to pay the bearer the sum of Rupees …” denotes the obligation on the part of the
RBI towards the holder of the banknote that the RBI is liable to pay the value of banknote.
This liability of RBI is further guaranteed by Government of India as per Section 26 of the
RBI Act, 1934.
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The value of the currency notes and coins is derived from the guarantee provided by the
Central Government on these items. Every currency note bears on its face a promise from
the RBI that if someone produces the note to RBI or any other commercial bank, RBI will be
responsible for giving the person purchasing power/value equal to the value printed on the
note. The same is also true for coins. Currency notes and coins do not have intrinsic
value i.e. the piece of paper in case of rupee note or the iron in case of coin does not have
the value of the material but it derives its value from the promise of RBI. Currency notes
and coins are therefore called fiat money. They are also called legal tenders as they
cannot be refused by any citizen of the country for payment/discharge of debt (For example:
Is an autowallah obliged to accept your currency note for a ride? Not necessarily! If you are
yet to get into the auto, the autowallah can turn you down despite it being a legal tender. But
once you make the trip, and you have incurred a debt, he cannot refuse to take your currency
note.). But cheques can be refused by anyone as a payment mode and are hence not legal
tenders.
Currency in Circulation = Currency with the Public + Currency with the banks
The total stock of money in circulation among the public at a particular point of time is
called money supply. RBI publishes figures for four alternative measures of money supply.
They are as follows:
Only deposits of public (includes businesses) held by the banks are part of money supply
and inter-bank deposits are excluded. Cash reserves of the commercial banks are not
treated as a component of money supply, because cash held by the creators/suppliers of
money (RBI, Government and Banks) is never treated as a component of money supply.
M1 is the most liquid and M4 is the least liquid. M1 and M2 are called narrow money and
M3 and M4 are called broad money. M3 is the most commonly used measure of money
supply and is also called "aggregate monetary resources".
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Cryptocurrencies are not legal tender which means if I purchased something then I
cannot ask the seller to accept cryptocurrency. But there is no ban on trading in
cryptocurrencies which means if I want to purchase cryptocurrency (bitcoin) then I can
always pay in rupee (or other currency) and purchase the bitcoins. There is a draft bill
"Banning of Cryptocurrency and Regulation of Official Digital Currency Bill 2019", as per
which holding, selling or dealing in cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin could soon land you
in jail for 10 years. But till now it is just in draft stage and has not become an act.
In a circular in April 2018, RBI had imposed a virtual ban on cryptocurrency trading in
India and had directed all entities which fall under the purview of RBI i.e. banks to not
deal in virtual currencies or provide services to those who want to deal in it. In March
2020 the Supreme Court has quashed the order, allowing trade in digital assets.
Suppose the individual thinks that he requires only Rs. 200 for his cash transactions and
deposits Rs. 300 in bank for safety purpose and to earn interest. This can be represented as
following.
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Rs. 200 Note Vault Cash = Deposits of Gold = Rs. 500 Currency held
+ Rs. 300 Public = Rs. 300 by Public = Rs.
Rs. 300 in 200
A/c
Vault Cash held by
banks = Rs. 300
Rs. 300 Rs. 300 Rs. 500 Rs. 500
Suppose the bank requires only Rs. 100 to meet the day to day cash demands of the public
then it can deposit the rest Rs. 200 with RBI. This can be represented as.
Rs. 200 Note Vault Cash = Deposits of Gold = Rs. 500 Currency held
+ Rs. 100 Public = Rs. by Public = Rs.
Rs. 300 in 300 200
A/c Deposits with
RBI = Rs. 200 Vault Cash held by
banks = Rs. 100
Deposits of bank =
Rs. 300 Rs. 300 Rs. 200
Rs. 500 Rs. 500
Money Supply = Rs. 500
Suppose govt. collects Rs. 50 as tax from the individual and keeps this money with RBI.
Rs. 150 Note Vault Cash Deposits of Gold = Rs. 500 Currency held
+ = Rs. 100 Public = Rs. by Public = Rs. 150
Rs. 300 in 300
A/c Deposits Vault Cash held by
with RBI = banks = Rs. 100
Rs. 200 Deposits of bank =
Rs. 200
Deposits of Govt.
Money (Treasury Deposits) =
Supply = Rs. 50
Rs. 450 Rs. 300 Rs. 300 Rs. 500 Rs. 500
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The RBI may sell some part of its gold assets to purchase foreign exchange reserves or
government securities. This can be represented as.
The total liability of the Monetary Authority (RBI) of the country is called Monetary
Base or High Powered Money or Reserve Money [M0]. And in the above example
Monetary Base or High Powered Money is Rs. 500 and money supply is Rs. 450.
Money Supply and Monetary Base are two distinct terms; money supply being the money
with the public either in cash or in deposits with banks and Monetary Base is the total
liability of RBI.
Demonetization
On November 8, 2016, the Central Government demonetized the Rs. 500 and Rs. 1000 currency
notes which constituted 86% of the cash/currency in circulation. This was done as per the RBI Act
1934 which says that "on recommendation of the Central Board of RBI, the Central Government
may, declare that any series of bank notes of any denomination shall cease to be legal tender".
Demonetization led to the reduction in RBI's liability to the extent the old notes were not returned
to the banking system. And hence in turn it led to the transfer of wealth from holders of illicit
black money to the public sector.
cdr equal to 1 means whenever an individual gets some amount of cash say Rs. 100, then
he will keep Rs. 50 as cash and Rs. 50 as deposit in banks, so that the ratio of cash in
hand and deposits in banks is Rs.50/Rs.50 = 1.
rdr equals to 0.2 or 20% means whenever an individual deposits certain sum of money say
Rs. 100 with the bank, the bank will have to keep Rs. 20 as reserve money and the rest Rs.
80 they can lend to someone else.
"Reserve money" of banks can be in the form of vault cash in banks or they can deposit with
RBI or can keep with Government.
Now we will understand the mechanism of money creation by the monetary authority i.e.
RBI.
Suppose RBI wishes to increase the money supply in the economy. Let us assume that RBI
purchases some assets, say, government bonds or gold worth Rs. H from the market and in
turn issues the currency note worth Rs. H to that person (P1). So, in this situation, money
supply is H and monetary base is also H.
Now, since we have assumed that cdr is 1 in the economy, the first person (P1) will keep
half of the money as cash and half he will deposit with the bank. And if the bank kept all
the deposited money in cash form in its vault, then the money supply will be H.
But since rdr is 20%, the bank will keep only 20% of the deposited money in its vaults as
cash (reserve money) and the rest it will lend to some other person (P2). So, now the first
person has money H (H/2 as cash and H/2 in the deposit form) and the second person (P2)
has money 0.8 (H/2) i.e. 0.4 H. So, the total money supply in the economy increases from H
to H + 0.4H = 1.4H. This has been possible because banks have been given the liberty to
keep only a fraction of the deposited money as reserve in their vaults and the rest they can
lend to others. (This is called "fractional reserve banking"). So, additional money is getting
created through fractional reserve banking. This has been represented in the following
table:
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Now the person P2 will again keep only half of the money which he has got from the bank in
cash form and the rest he will deposit with the bank. The bank will again keep only 20% of
the deposited money as reserve in its vault and the rest it will lend to a third person (P3).
The third person P3 will again keep only half of the money which he has got from the bank
in cash form and the rest he will deposit with the bank and this process will go on endlessly
in the economy. This is represented in the following table:
P4 . . . .
.
. . . . .
So, with H monetary base and H money supply initially, the RBI has been able to
increase/create the money supply to 5H/3 through fractional reserve banking. So, money
supply is now 5/3 times the monetary base, hence the money multiplier is 5/3.
If RBI wants to further increase the money supply then it will reduce the rdr from 0.2 and if
it wishes to reduce the money supply then it will increase the rdr.
As we know, bank reserves consist of two things – cash in their vaults and deposits of
banks with RBI. So rdr is divided into two parts CRR (kept with RBI) and SLR (kept with
banks).
4% 18%
CRR (with RBI) SLR (with banks)
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Over time, the objectives of monetary policy in India have evolved to include maintaining
price stability, ensuring adequate flow of credit to productive sectors of the economy for
supporting economic growth and achieving financial stability. Based on its assessment of
macroeconomic and financial conditions, RBI takes the call on the stance of monetary
policy and monetary measures. RBI issues monetary policy statements which reflect the
changing circumstances and priorities of the RBI and the thrust of the policy measures for
the future.
The monetary policy framework in India, as it is today, has evolved over the years. A new
“Monetary Policy Framework” Agreement was signed between the Government of India
and RBI in Feb 2015. As per the new monetary policy framework agreement, following are
the important points: -
The objective of the monetary policy is to primarily maintain price stability, while
keeping in mind the objective of growth
The monetary policy framework is operated by RBI
The inflation target is 4% with a band of +/- 2%
The inflation target is decided by the Government of India in consultation with RBI. The
central government has notified the above inflation target for the period from August 5,
2016 to March 31, 2021. The RBI Act 1934 provides for the inflation target to be set by
the government of India, in consultation with the Reserve Bank, once in every five years.
The inflation is the “Consumer Price Index (CPI) – Combined” published by Ministry of
Statistics and Programme Implementation (NSO)
The RBI shall be seen to have failed to meet the Target if inflation is more than 6% or
less than 2% for three consecutive quarters
In case RBI fails to meet the target, it will have to give a written report to Government of
India explaining the reasons of failure, remedial actions to be taken and an estimated
time period within which the Target would be achieved
The following are the major instruments/tools that RBI uses for conducting its
monetary policy:
1. Repo Rate: The (fixed) interest rate at which the RBI provides overnight liquidity up to a
certain limit (0.25% of their NDTL) to banks against the collateral of government and
other approved securities under the Liquidity Adjustment Facility (LAF).
Repo is short form of "Repurchase Agreement". When banks borrow from RBI at repo
rate, banks keep Government securities with RBI and get cash in return, with a promise
that they will return (after overnight) this cash to RBI and RBI will return the
government securities to banks.
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Money and Banking – Part I [t.me/VivekSingh_Economy]
Repo Rate is called the “Policy Rate”. Repo Rate and Reverse Repo Rate comes under
“Liquidity Adjustment Facility (LAF)” introduced in June 2010. Only Repo Rate is
announced by the RBI and Reverse Repo Rate, Bank Rate and MSF rate are linked to
the Repo Rate with a formula (which can also change).
2. Reverse Repo Rate: The (fixed) interest rate at which the Reserve Bank absorbs liquidity,
on an overnight basis, from banks against the collateral of eligible government securities
under the LAF.
3. Liquidity Adjustment Facility (LAF): The LAF consists of overnight as well as term repo
auctions. Progressively, the Reserve Bank has increased the proportion of liquidity
injected under fine-tuning variable rate repo auctions (discussed below) of range of
tenors (for different time periods). The aim of term repo is to help develop the inter-
bank term money market, which in turn can set market-based benchmarks for
pricing of loans and deposits, and hence improve transmission of monetary policy.
The Reserve Bank also conducts variable interest rate reverse repo auctions, as
necessitated under the market conditions.
Long Term Repo Operation (LTRO): RBI lends to banks @repo rate only up to 0.25%
of bank’s NDTL. RBI further lends from time to time above the repo rate up to 0.75
percent of overall NDTL in the banking system. And in this case the interest rate is
generally decided by auction i.e. if banks want more money, the interest rate will go
higher, if few banks are competing for RBIs money then interest rate will be less but
it is always above the repo rate. RBI, while conducting the auction clearly specifies
that bids below and equal to repo rate will be rejected).This is called "long term
repo operation (LTRO)" which means RBI gives money for a fixed long term. The
LTRO is generally at variable rate decided by the auction which is above repo rate
but it can be done at repo rate also. (Collateral of government security is required
but may not be 100%). Repo is available on a daily basis for banks but LTRO is for
long term and done less frequently only when RBI notifies.
Similarly, variable long-term reverse repo auctions are also done where bids
should be below the repo rate.
But under MSF, banks can borrow money/cash from RBI by dipping into the SLR
reserve. This means the banks can keep 3% of the SLR securities with RBI (i.e. the SLR
can go down up to 3% below the normal SLR limit) and can borrow cash from RBI. This is
called Marginal Standing Facility (MSF).
5. Corridor: The MSF rate and reverse repo rate determine the corridor for the daily
movement in the weighted average call money rate. (can be ignored)
6. Bank Rate It is the standard rate at which the Reserve Bank is prepared to buy debt
instruments (for example commercial papers). On introduction of LAF, the Reserve Bank
has discontinued this operation. As a result, the Bank Rate became dormant as an
instrument of monetary management. It is now aligned to MSF rate and used for
calculating penalty on default in the cash reserve ratio (CRR) and the statutory liquidity
ratio (SLR). For example, the current penal rate on shortfall in reserves is Bank Rate
plus 3 percent.
Bank Rate = MSF Rate
Cash Reserve Ratio (CRR) The amount of cash that the scheduled commercial banks
are required to maintain with RBI with respect to their NDTL (on a fortnightly basis)
is called CRR. One of the basic reasons of keeping CRR with RBI is to provide safety
to the public deposits. “In terms of Section 42(1) of the RBI Act, 1934 the Reserve
Bank, having regard to the needs of securing the monetary stability in the country,
prescribes the CRR for SCBs without any floor or ceiling rate”.
Statutory Liquidity Ratio (SLR) The amount of reserves that the scheduled
commercial banks are required to maintain with themselves on a daily basis in safe
and liquid assets such as government securities, gold and cash with respect to their
NDTL is called SLR. Excess CRR balances are also treated as liquid assets for the
purpose of SLR. Scheduled Commercial Banks are required to maintain SLR as per
the Banking Regulation Act 1949. The maximum limit for SLR is 40%.
Deposits of public are the liability of banks. The public’s demand deposits are demand
liability of the bank and time deposits are time liability of the banks and the total of
demand and time deposits of the public is called the Net Demand and Time Liabilities
(NDTL) of the banks.
The requirement of CRR and SLR is to make public deposits safe and liquid and enable
RBI to control the amount of money that banks can create. It ensures that banks have a
safe cushion of assets to draw on when account holders want to be paid. In absence of
the CRR and SLR requirements, to make more profits bank may lend most of the deposits
and if there is a sudden rush to withdraw, banks will struggle to meet the repayments.
All Commercial and Cooperative Banks (either scheduled or non-scheduled) are required
to maintain CRR and SLR. For scheduled banks, the maintenance of CRR is governed
through The Reserve Bank of India Act 1934 and for Non-Scheduled banks CRR is
governed through Banking Regulation Act 1949. Banking Regulation Act 1949 (Section
24) governs maintenance of SLR for all banks (scheduled and non-scheduled)
commercial and cooperative.
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And if RBI wants to increase the money supply then it buys government securities from
the public and pays them money in exchange of government securities which increases
the money supply in the economy. It is done on E-Kuber platform.
To ease the threat of currency appreciation or inflation, central banks often attempt
what is known as the “sterilization” of capital flows. In a successful sterilization
operation, the domestic component of the monetary base/ money supply is reduced to
offset the inflow of capital, at least temporarily. In theory, this can be achieved by
encouraging private investment overseas, or allowing foreigners to borrow from the local
market. But the classical form of sterilization, however, has been through the use of
open market operations, that is, selling Treasury bills and other securities by RBI to
reduce the domestic component of the monetary base/ money supply.
[Reverse repos and outright Open market operation sales demanded the availability of
adequate stock of government securities with the RBI, which became a constraining factor
in sterilisation operations as the volume of capital inflows expanded. Moreover, reverse
repo operations involved sterilisation costs, impacting the profit of the RBI, with
implications for RBI’s operational independence. Using the LAF as an instrument of
sterilisation tended to erode its utility as a day-to-day liquidity adjustment tool operating
at the margin. It was in this context that the RBI introduced Market Stabilisation Scheme
(MSS) in 2004.]
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As macroeconomic conditions change, the central bank may change the choice of
instruments in its monetary policy. Till 1991 CRR and SLR were the main tools of RBI
monetary policy. Since 1991 till 2000, RBI used OMO as its main tool for monetary policy.
Since 2000 till today RBI is using Repo Rate and Reverse Repo Rate as the main tools of
Monetary Policy in addition to the OMO.
The Reserve Bank of India was set up on the basis of the recommendations of the Hilton
Young Commission. The Reserve Bank of India Act, 1934 provides the statutory basis of the
functioning of the Bank, which commenced operations on April 1, 1935.
The Bank began its operations by taking over from the Government the functions so far
being performed by the Controller of Currency and from the Imperial Bank of India, the
management of Government accounts and public debt. Burma (Myanmar) seceded from the
Indian Union in 1937 but the Reserve Bank continued to act as the Central Bank for
Burma till Japanese Occupation of Burma and later up to April, 1947. After the partition of
India, the Reserve Bank served as the central bank of Pakistan up to June 1948 when the
State Bank of Pakistan commenced operations. The Reserve Bank, which was originally set
up as a shareholder’s bank, was nationalised in 1949.
An interesting feature of the Reserve Bank of India was that at its very inception, the
Reserve Bank was seen as playing a special role in the context of development, especially
Agriculture. When India commenced its plan endeavours, the development role of the
Reserve Bank came into focus, especially in the sixties when the Reserve Bank, in many
ways, pioneered the concept and practise of using finance to catalyse development. The
Reserve Bank was also instrumental in institutional development and helped set up
institutions like the Deposit Insurance and Credit Guarantee Corporation of India, the Unit
Trust of India, the Industrial Development Bank of India, the National Bank of Agriculture
and Rural Development, the Discount and Finance House of India etc. to build the financial
infrastructure of the country.
With liberalisation, the Bank’s focus has shifted back to core central banking functions like
Monetary Policy, Bank Supervision and Regulation and Overseeing the Payments System
and onto developing the financial markets.
The objective of RBI is “to regulate the issue of Bank notes and keeping of reserves with a
view to securing monetary stability in India and generally to operate the currency and credit
system of the country to its advantage; to have a modern monetary policy framework to meet
the challenge of an increasingly complex economy, to maintain price stability while keeping in
mind the objective of growth; to maintain macroeconomic stability and financial stability.”
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Money and Banking – Part I [t.me/VivekSingh_Economy]
The RBI affairs are governed by a central board of directors (Maximum 21 in number
including the governor and four deputy governors who are also on the central board) who
are appointed by the government of India in keeping with the Reserve Bank of India Act
1934 for a period of 4 years. RBI is the Central Bank of India and is also called the
Monetary Authority of India.
1. Monetary Management/Authority
The most important function of central banks is formulation and execution of monetary
policy (discussed in detail in the monetary policy topic) to regulate the issue of RBI notes
and the keeping of reserves with a view to securing monetary stability in India and
generally to operate the currency and credit system of the country to its advantage.
The following are various functions of RBI regarding commercial banks, cooperative
banks, regional rural banks, Financial Institutions, NBFCs, Primary Dealers, CICs etc:
Commercial Banks
A license is required from RBI to commence banking operations, opening of new
bank branches and closing of branches or change in the location of existing
branches. RBI regulates merger, amalgamation and winding up of banks. (For
shifting, merger and closure of urban branches, now no approval is required)
RBI issues various guidelines for directors of banks and also has powers to appoint
additional directors on the board of a banking company. Commercial Banks (except
PSBs) need prior approval of RBI for appointment/re-appointment/termination of
Chairman, Whole-time Directors, Managing Director and CEO. RBI can appoint
additional directors in commercial banks (except PSBs). RBI in consultation with
Central Govt., can supersede the Board of Directors of Commercial Banks. Public
Sector Banks (PSBs) are under dual regulation of Central Govt. and RBI. RBI’s
powers are curtailed regarding PSBs, where RBI cannot remove directors and
management, cannot supersede banks board and does not have the power to force a
merger or trigger liquidation.
RBI regulates the banks to maintain certain reserves in the form of CRR and SLR
The interest rate on most of the categories of deposits and lending have been
deregulated and are largely determined by banks but RBI regulates the interest rate
on NRI deposits, export credits (loans) and a few other categories.
RBI prescribes prudential norms to be followed by banks in several areas of their
operations. Some of the prudential norms are asset classification, income
recognition, provisioning, capital adequacy etc. (no need to go in detail about these
norms)
To prevent money laundering through the banking system, banks are required to
carry out Know Your Customer (KYC) exercise for all their customers to establish
their identity and report suspicious transactions to authorities.
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Money and Banking – Part I [t.me/VivekSingh_Economy]
RBI has set up (100% subsidiary) Deposit Insurance and Credit Guarantee
Corporation (DICGC) to protect the interest of small depositors in case of bank
failures/bankruptcy. The DICGC provides insurance cover to all eligible bank
depositors up to Rs. 5 lakhs (principal and interest combined) per depositor per
bank. DICGC charges premium from banks to provide insurance. If one person has
different accounts in a bank like savings, fixed, recurring and current, does not
matter, his total insurance cover is max five lakhs rupees. But if one person has
account in different banks, then he is separately covered five lakhs rupees in each
bank. All commercial banks including branches of foreign banks and
UCBs/StCBs/DCCBs are covered except deposits of foreign governments, deposits
of central and state governments, and inter-bank deposits.
[In budget 2021-22, Govt. has proposed that DICGC Act 1961 will be amended so
that if a bank is temporarily unable to fulfil its obligations, the depositors of such
a bank can get easy and time-bound access to their deposits to the extent of deposit
insurance cover. This would help depositors of banks which are currently under
stress].
The RBI has permitted banks to undertake para-banking (non-traditional banking)
activities such as mutual fund business, insurance business, venture capital etc.
Cooperative Banks
Cooperative Banks are under dual regulation of RBI and Government. Banking
related functions are regulated by RBI and management related functions are
regulated by respective State governments or Central government, as the case may
be.
Financial Institutions, NBFCs, Primary Dealers and Credit Information Companies (CIC)
The four All India Financial Institutions – NABARD, NHB, EXIM Bank and SIDBI are
under full-fledged regulation and supervision of the RBI. NBFCs, Primary Dealers
and CICs are also under the regulation and supervision of RBI.
RBI regulates Banks and NBFCs both but till July 2019 RBI had the powers to supersede
the Board of Banks only (in case of any mismanagement/default) and not NBFCs. In July
2019, RBI Act 1934 was amended to allow RBI to supersede the Board of NBFCs also
(and appoint administrator) in public interest.
3. Regulation of Foreign Exchange Market, Govt. Securities Market and Money Market
Foreign Exchange Market: For a long time, foreign exchange in India was treated as a
controlled commodity because of its limited availability. The early stages of foreign
exchange management in the country focused on control of foreign exchange by
regulating the demand due to limited supply of foreign exchange for which the statutory
powers were provided by the Foreign Exchange Regulation Act (FERA), 1973. Prompted
by the liberalisation measures introduced since 1991 and developments in the external
sector such as substantial increase in foreign exchange reserves, growth in foreign
trade, liberalisation of Indian investments abroad and participation of foreign
institutional investors in Indian stock market, the Foreign Exchange Management Act
(FEMA) was enacted in 1999 to replace the FERA 1973 with effect from June 2000. So
now, RBI oversees the foreign exchange market in India and supervises and regulates it
through the provisions of the FEMA Act 1999.
Government securities market, which trades securities issued by the Central and
State Governments are regulated by the RBI for which RBI derives its powers from the
RBI Act 1934.
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Money and Banking – Part I [t.me/VivekSingh_Economy]
Money Market (explained in financial markets topic), which trades short term and
highly liquid debt securities are also regulated by the RBI for which RBI derives its
powers from the RBI Act 1934.
The basic parameters of the RBI’s policies for foreign exchange reserves management
are safety, liquidity and returns. RBI used to traditionally asses the reserves adequacy
in terms of import cover but now it also looks at the type of external shocks to which the
economy is potentially vulnerable. The objective is to ensure that the quantum of
reserves is in line with the growth potential of the economy, the size of capital flows and
national security requirements.
The WMA scheme is designed to meet temporary mismatches in the receipts and
payments of the government. This facility can be availed by the government if it
needs immediate cash from the RBI. The WMA is a loan facility from the RBI for 90
days which implies that the government has to vacate the facility after 90 days.
Interest rate for WMA is currently charged at the repo rate. The limits for WMA are
mutually decided by the RBI and the Government of India. WMA is just a loan paper
and is non-tradable (T-bills, Dated Securities, SDL and Cash Management Bills are
tradable). WMAs are not used to fund Fiscal deficit.
The RBI also acts as advisor to the Government, whenever called upon to do so, on
monetary and banking related matters.
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8. Banker to Banks
RBI enables banks to open their (current) accounts with RBI for maintenance of
statutory reserve requirements (CRR and SLR)
RBI acts as a common banker for different banks to enable settlement of interbank
transfer of funds
RBI provides short term loans and advances to banks for specific purposes
RBI acts as lender of last resort
RBI comes to the rescue of a bank that is solvent (has not gone bankrupt) but
faces temporary liquidity (funds) problems by supplying it with much needed
liquidity when no one else is willing to extend credit to that bank. RBI extends
this facility to protect the interest of the depositors of the bank and to prevent
possible failure of a bank, which in turn may also affect other banks and
institutions and can have an adverse impact on financial stability and thus on
the economy.
Bank Run is a situation that occurs when everybody wants to take money out of
one’s bank account before the bank runs out of reserves. As more and more
people withdraw their funds, the probability of default increases, thereby
prompting more people to withdraw their deposits. In extreme cases, the bank’s
reserves may not be sufficient to cover the withdrawals. A bank run is typically
the result of panic which can ultimately lead to default. In such a situation, the
RBI stands by the commercial banks as a guarantor and extends loans to ensure
the solvency of the banks. (Solvency is the ability of a company to meet its long-
term financial obligations which is essential to staying in business). This system
of guarantee assures individual account holders that their banks will be able to
pay their money back in case of a crisis and there is no need to panic thus
avoiding bank runs. This role of RBI is also called ‘lender of last resort’.
9. Issuer of Currency
The RBI, along with the government of India, is responsible for the design,
production and overall management of the nation’s currency, with the goal of
ensuring an adequate supply of clean and genuine notes. In consultation with the
government, the RBI routinely addresses security issues and targets ways to
enhance security features to reduce the risk of counterfeiting of currency notes.
The RBI carries out the currency management function through its department of
currency management (Mumbai), 19 Issue Offices located across the country and a
currency chest at its Kochi branch. To facilitate the distribution of notes and rupee
coins across the country, the RBI has authorized selected branches of banks to
establish currency chests (currency chests are storehouses where bank notes and
rupee coins are stocked on behalf of RBI).
RBI has created the Negotiated Dealing System, a screen-based trading platform, to
facilitate settlement of government securities transactions.
RBI has set up the Clearing Corporation of India Ltd. (CCIL) for settlement of trade
in foreign exchange, government securities and other debt instruments.
RBI as the regulator of payment and settlement systems in the country, sets the
necessary regulatory framework to ensure that different types of payment systems
operate in a safe, secure and efficient manner to meet the needs of varied segments of
society. Reserve Bank authorizes Payment Systems in terms of powers vested with it by
the Payment and Settlement Systems Act, 2007 (PSS Act).
For many years in India, banks have been the traditional gateway to extend payment
systems. Over a period of time, given the demand for varied payment services and in
keeping with the fast pace of technological changes, non-bank entities have also been
permitted access to the payment space. These non-banks are co-operating, as well as,
competing with banks, either as technology service providers to banks or by directly
providing retail electronic payment services. Reserve Bank has been issuing
guidelines for various payment systems and grants authorisation to non-banks for
setting up and operating payment systems. It may be noted that licensed banks also
need to obtain specific permission from RBI for setting up and operating a payment
system. This is because banking function is different and operating a "payment system"
(which facilitates payment from one entity to other) is different.
NPCI is a ‘Not for Profit’ company where 51% stake is owned by public sector banks.
Google India, in July 2020, submitted an affidavit in the Delhi High Court, saying that:
1. "Google Pay" operates as a technology service provider to its partner banks, to allow
for payments through the UPI infrastructure, and is not part of payment processing or
settlement (basically it is not a payment system operator) and hence does not require
RBI approval.
2. Payment System Operator (PSO) authorised by the RBI is the National Payment
Corporation of India (NPCI) which is the owner and operator of the entire unified
payment interface (UPI) network.
3. NPCI, in turn, authorises the payment service provider banks and third party
application providers like Google Pay to conduct transactions on its UPI network.
Google Pay, Paytm, Mobikwik are all technology service providers or digital wallets.
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[Card Networks are basically Visa, Mastercard or Rupay etc. Card Networks determine
where your card can be accepted. They act as a payment bridge between the
merchant/shopkeeper and the bank. Card Networks approve and process the
transactions.]
The purpose of this fund will be to encourage Merchants/Retailers, so that more and
more number of merchants and retailers start using the Point of Sale (PoS)
Infrastructure [either in physical form, it is basically the small machines through which
you swipe your debit/credit card at the shops OR in digital form means when you make
payment through laptop or mobile through cards] in underserved areas like Tier
3/4/5/6 cities and in eastern States. The presence of PoS infrastructure is less in these
areas and hence the transaction is more in Cash form.
Priority sectors refer to those sectors of the economy which may not get timely and
adequate credit in the absence of this special scheme. Priority sector guidelines do not
lay down any preferential rate of interest for priority sector loans. Typically, these are
small value loans to those sectors of the society/economy that impact large segments of the
population and weaker sections, and to the sectors which are employment intensive such
as agriculture and small enterprises.
Scheduled Commercial Banks (SCBs) having any shortfall in lending to priority sector are
allocated amounts for contribution to the Rural Infrastructure Development Fund (RIDF)
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Money and Banking – Part I [t.me/VivekSingh_Economy]
established with NABARD and other Funds with NABARD/NHB/SIDBI/ MUDRA Ltd., as
decided by the Reserve Bank from time to time.
1) Agriculture:
Loans to Individual farmers and Farmer Producer Organisations
Includes crop loans, machinery loans for all kinds of agri and allied activities
Loans for food and agro-processing activites are also included under Agricultre
Loans for installation of solar plants and for solarisation of grid connected
pumps
Setting up Compressed Bio gas plants
2) MSME
3) Export
6) Social Infrastructure
Setting up schools, drinking water facilities, sanitation facilities, healthcare facilities
7) Renewable Energy
8) Others
Distressed persons for prepayment of loan borrowed from money lenders
Start-ups (loans up to Rs. 50 crs)
9) Weaker Sections
Small and marginal farmers, artisans, village and cottage industries, SC/ST, SHG,
Persons with disabilities, minority communities etc.
1. On-lending model
Onward lending by registered Non-Banking Finance Companies (NBFCs) including Micro
Finance Institutions (MFI) for the various priority sectors will be considered as Priority
Sector Lending.
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RBI has done the above changes in order to boost credit to the needy segment of borrowers.
Under the revised on-lending model, banks can classify only the fresh loans sanctioned by
NBFCs out of bank borrowing as priority sector lending. Bank credit to NBFCs for ‘On-
Lending’ will be allowed up to a limit of five percent of individual bank’s total priority sector
lending on an ongoing basis.
Explanation:
Suppose a Bank gave total credit/loan of Rs. 100. Now in this it has to give Rs. 40 to the
priority sectors.
But, suppose, the bank gave only Rs. 32 loan to a district where per capita PSL credit is
less than Rs. 6000 then its weight is 125%, which basically means it will be counted as Rs.
32 * 1.25 = Rs. 40 And hence it will be assumed that the bank has met the PSL criteria of
40%.
Similarly if the bank is giving credit to higher per capita credit districts then it will have to
give more than 40% of the credit to priority sectors because weightage is 90% only.
And this will be applicable for the new (incremental) loans given from 1st April 2021
onwards. A very innovative way of inclusive growth/development .This step of RBI will make
growth inclusive across geography also, which was earlier focussing only on sectors.
1. The Co-lending of loans provides a unique opportunity for formal lenders to come
together and share their synergies to create a winning proposition for all the
stakeholders. It enables banks and Non-Banking Finance Companies (NBFCs) to enter
into an arrangement where the risks and rewards are shared by all parties to the co-
lending agreement throughout the lifecycle of the loan, as per a pre-decided ratio.
2. NBFCs often face challenges in getting cheaper access to funds for lending purposes,
which in turn results into higher interest rates for their borrowers and hence less
demand for their loans; whereas large commercial banks find it difficult and expensive
to extend their reach to certain locations, where the NBFCs have a stronger presence.
Co-lending helps in bridging these gaps.
3. The co-lending model empowers multiple stakeholders of the lending ecosystem. While
NBFCs can leverage their strong presence in local markets, commercial banks have the
cheap availability of funds for credit disbursal. Another advantage of this partnership is
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that NBFCs have mastered the art of assessing the creditworthiness of certain niche
customer segments, which the banks have been ignoring, primarily due to differences in
their core target segment and credit risk management approach. The NBFCs use a
number of innovative mechanisms for credit risk assessment including usage of non-
traditional sources of data, observing an individual’s modus operandi and cash-flow at
work, building customized scorecards, etc. for both small-ticket retail & MSME segment.
This is a big pie for banks to look forward to.
4. But while the present RBI guidelines highlight co-lending as an initiative to propel
priority sector lending, the model has a much broader potential to go beyond just
lending to the priority sectors.
5. Example/Explanation:
Total Loan given to a customer (the customer will not know separate amounts) = Rs.
50 lakhs
NBFC gave Rs. 10 lakhs @ 10% (which will be on NBFC account books)
Bank gave Rs. 40 lakh @8% (which will be on Bank’s account books)
So, the customer will see that he has got loan of Rs. 50 lakhs @ 8.4% (10% of Rs. 10
lakhs = Rs. 1 lakh. And 8% of Rs. 40 lakhs = Rs. 3.2 lakh. So, total interest = Rs.
4.2 lakh/year on Rs. 50 lakh loan. So, effective interest rate will be (Rs. 4.2 lakh/
Rs. 50 lakhs)* 100% = 8.4%)
The banks can claim priority sector status in respect of their share of credit i.e. Rs.
40 lacs
6. In Co-Lending, banks are permitted to co-lend with all registered NBFCs based on a
prior agreement. Co-lending enables both the partners to price their portions of the
loan as they want. The co-lending banks will take their share of the individual loans
(on a back-to-back basis) in their account books. However, NBFCs shall be required to
retain a minimum of 20 per cent share of the individual loans on their books.
A High-Level Committee in 2009 noted that the Scheme has been useful in achieving its
original objectives of improvement in branch expansion, deposit mobilisation and
lending to the priority sectors, especially in rural/semi urban areas. The Lead Bank
Scheme (LBS) has been extended to the districts in the metropolitan areas thus bringing
the entire country under the fold of the Lead Bank Scheme.
Lead Bank Scheme is administered by the RBI since 1969. The assignment of lead bank
responsibility to designated banks in every district is done by RBI following a detailed
procedure formulated for this purpose. As on June 30, 2017, 25 public sector banks
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Money and Banking – Part I [t.me/VivekSingh_Economy]
and one private sector bank have been assigned lead bank responsibility in 706 districts
of the country.
The scheme is under implementation in the entire country by the vast institutional
credit framework involving Commercial Banks, RRBs, Small Finance Banks and
Cooperatives and has received wide acceptability amongst bankers and farmers. Under
the scheme, the limits are fixed on the basis of operational land holding, cropping
pattern and scales of finance. The interest rate is as per the RBI guidelines.
Kisan Credit Card Scheme aims at providing adequate and timely credit support from
the formal banking system under a single window to the farmers for their following
needs:
To meet the short-term credit requirements for cultivation of crops
Post-harvest expenses
Produce Marketing loan
Consumption requirements of farmer household
Working capital for maintenance of farm assets and activities allied to agriculture,
like dairy animals, inland fishery etc.
Investment credit requirement for agriculture and allied activities like pump sets,
sprayers, dairy animals etc.
[With a view to ensuring availability of agriculture credit {including loans taken against
Kisan Credit Card (KCC)} at a reasonable cost (interest rate) of 7% per annum to farmers,
the Government of India, is implementing an “interest subvention/subsidy scheme” of
2% for short term crop loans of up to Rs.3.00 lakh. The scheme is implemented through
public sector banks and private sector banks {reimbursement through RBI}, Regional
Rural Banks and Cooperatives {reimbursement through National Bank for Agriculture and
Rural Development (NABARD)}. Currently, besides 2% interest subvention, the farmers,
on prompt repayment of crop loans on or before the due date, are also provided 3%
additional interest subvention. Thus, assuming market interest rate of 9%, in
case of prompt payee farmers the short-term crop loans are provided at an
effective interest rate of 4% (9% - 2% -3%) per annum and without prompt
payment they will get loan at 7% (9% - 2%). The benefit of interest subvention is
extended for a period of up to six months (post-harvest) to small and marginal farmers
having KCC on loan against negotiable warehouse receipts with the purpose of preventing
distress sale of produce.]
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Money and Banking – Part I [t.me/VivekSingh_Economy]
So, while ‘KCC’ is implemented by RBI, ‘Interest Subvention’ is a Govt. of India (Ministry
of Agriculture) scheme. KCC just talks about giving cards to farmers so that they can
avail hassle free credit, while interest subvention is interest subsidy given by GoI. So
even if a farmer does not have KCC, he can avail interest subvention scheme, and if
some farmer has KCC, he can avail interest subvention through KCC.
RBI conducts quarterly ‘Consumer Confidence Survey’ in which RBI collects responses
on household’s perceptions and expectations on the general economic situation, the
employment scenario, the overall price situation and their own income and spending.
Economic capital is a measure of risk in terms of capital. More specifically, it's the amount
of capital that a company (usually in financial services) needs to ensure that it stays
solvent (opposite of bankrupt) given its risk profile. Economic capital is calculated
internally by the company and is it the amount of capital that the firm should have to
support any risks that it takes.
As per RBI Act 1934, Section 47, there are two clear objectives for the Economic Capital
Framework (ECF).
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Money and Banking – Part I [t.me/VivekSingh_Economy]
First, the RBI as a macroeconomic institution has the responsibility to fight any
crisis in the financial system and to handle such a crisis, the RBI should have
adequate funds attached under the capital reserve.
And, second is transferring the remaining part of the net income to the government.
Accordingly, RBI has developed an Economic Capital Framework (ECF) for determining the
allocation of funds to its capital reserves so that any risk contingency can be met and as
well as to transfer the profit of the RBI to the government.
The process of adding funds to the capital reserve is a yearly one where the RBI allots
money out of its net income to the capital reserve. How much funds shall be added to the
capital reserve each year depends upon the risky situation in the financial system and the
economy. After allotting money to the capital reserve, the remaining net income of the RBI
is transferred to the government as profit (RBI is a 100% subsidiary of Government of India,
so every year it transfers its profit/dividend to Govt. of India).
Following is the graph showing the RBI surplus transfer to the Govt. in the last 10 years.
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Money and Banking – Part I [t.me/VivekSingh_Economy]
1. The financial institutions in India are broadly divided into two categories viz. Banks and
Non-Banking Financial Institutions (NBFI). The basic difference between a Bank and a
NBFI is Banks accept demand deposits and NBFIs do not accept demand deposits.
Banks issue cheques but NBFIs cannot issue cheques drawn on itself.
2. Banks are classified into commercial and cooperative. Commercial banks operate on
the commercial (profit) principles while the basis of operation for cooperative banks is
on cooperative lines i.e. service to its members and the society. Cooperative banks
provide a higher rate of interest on deposits as compared to commercial banks.
3. Commercial banks are of two categories viz. scheduled commercial banks and non-
scheduled commercial banks. A scheduled bank is so called because it has been
included in the second schedule of the RBI Act 1934. The other conditions for a
scheduled bank are it must be a corporation and the Paid-up share capital should be at
least Rs. 500 crores. The difference between scheduled and non-scheduled banks is the
type of banking activity that they are allowed to carry out in India. A Non-Scheduled
bank can carry out limited operations, for example, non-scheduled banks are not
allowed to deal in Foreign Exchange. Non-Scheduled banks need to maintain reserve
requirements (as per the Banking Regulation Act 1949) but may not be with RBI.
Scheduled Banks are required to maintain reserve requirements with RBI as per the RBI
Act 1934.
4. Co-operative Banks:
The Co-operative banks are of two categories viz. Urban Co-operative banks (UCB) and
Rural Co-operative banks.
The Urban Co-operative banks (UCB) (also called Primary Co-operative Banks) are
located in urban and semi urban areas and were traditionally centred around
communities, localities work place groups. They essentially lent to small borrowers
and businesses. Today, their scope of operations has widened considerably.
UCBs are again classified into Scheduled and Non-scheduled categories, which are
then further classified into single state and multi state. Single State UCBs are
registered as cooperative societies under the provisions of the State Government
Cooperative Societies Act and are regulated by the Registrar of Cooperative Societies
(RCS) of State concerned. Multi-State UCBs are registered as cooperative societies
under the provisions of Multi-State Cooperative Societies Act, 2002 and are
regulated by the Central Registrar of Cooperative Societies (CRCS). UCBs come
under the supervision of RBI.
The rural co-operative credit system in India is primarily mandated to ensure flow of
credit to the agriculture sector. It comprises short-term and long-term co-operative
credit structures. The short-term co-operative credit structure operates with a three-
tier system – State Cooperative Banks (StCBs) at the State level, (District) Central
Cooperative Banks (DCCBs) at the district level and Primary Agricultural Credit
Societies (PACS) at the village level. A PACS is organized at the grass roots level of
a village or a group of small villages. It is this basic unit which deals directly with
the rural (agricultural) borrowers, gives them loans and collects repayments of loans
given. PACS are outside the purview of the Banking Regulation Act, 1949 and
hence not regulated by the Reserve Bank of India. SCBs/DCCBs are registered
under the provisions of State Cooperative Societies Act of the State concerned and
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Money and Banking – Part I [t.me/VivekSingh_Economy]
comes under the dual regulation of State governments and RBI. All Rural
Cooperative Banks are supervised by NABARD.
Though the Banking Regulation Act came in to force in 1949, the banking laws were
made applicable to cooperative societies only in 1966 through an amendment to the
Banking Regulation Act, 1949. Since then there is ‘duality of control’ over
cooperative banks (urban and rural both) between the State Registrar of Cooperative
Societies/Central Registrar of Cooperative Societies and the Reserve Bank of India.
The Reserve Bank regulates and supervises the banking functions and
amalgamation and liquidation of UCBs/StCB/DCCB through the Banking
regulation Act, 1949 and the non-banking aspects like registration, management,
administration and recruitment are regulated by the State/ Central Governments. If
RBI feels so, and if required in public interest, it can supersede the Board of
Directors of UCBs/StCB/DCCB. PACS and long-term credit co-operatives
(SCARDB and PCARDB) are outside the purview of the Banking Regulation Act,
1949 and are hence not regulated by the Reserve Bank. The NABARD conducts
voluntary inspection of SCARDBs, apex-level co-operative societies and federations.
Accordingly, RBI published guidelines on 31st Dec 2019, as per which, the
BoD of UCBs with deposit size of ₹100 crore and above, shall constitute BoM. It
shall be mandatory for such banks to constitute BoM for seeking approval to
expand their area of operation and/or open new branches. These UCBs will also
require prior approval of RBI for appointment of their CEOs. UCBs with a deposit
size less than ₹100 crore are exempted from constituting BoM although they are
encouraged to do so voluntarily. The BoM shall report to the BoD and shall
exercise oversight over the banking related functions of the UCBs, assist the
BoD on formulation of policies and any other related matter specifically
delegated to it by the BoD for proper functioning of the bank. The BoD will
continue to be the apex policy setting body and shall continue to be responsible
for the general direction and control of a UCB. It will continue to look after all
the administrative functions as spelt out in the respective Co-operative Societies
Acts.
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1. With prior approval of RBI, cooperative banks can issue (either through public
or private placement)
Shares/equity
Bonds or unsecured debentures or any other security with maturity of not
less than 10 years
3. RBI can supersede the management of the Urban Cooperative Banks (UCB),
State Cooperative Banks (StCB) and District Central Cooperative Banks (DCCB) if
RBI feels that the affairs of the bank are conducted in a manner detrimental to
the interest of the depositors. (Earlier this was applicable only for UCBs and now
in the amendment 2020, StCB and DCCB have also been included)
5. Public Sector Banks: Banks owned by the Central or State governments having more
than 51% ownership with the government. For example, SBI and its associates, Punjab
National Bank, Bank of India etc. Nationalized Banks (private banks taken over by
government) which were nationalized in 1969 and 1980’s are also public sector banks
as government owns more than 51% in these banks.
6. Private Sector Banks: Banks owned by private individuals for example ICICI bank, Axis
Bank etc.
7. Foreign Banks: Banks established in India but owned by foreign entity/ies for example
Citi Bank. These are basically private banks only owned by foreign entities.
8. Regional Rural Banks (RRB) were established in 1975 under the provisions of the
Regional Rural Banks Act, 1976 with a view to developing the rural economy by
providing, for the purpose of development of agriculture, trade, commerce, industry and
other productive activities in the rural areas, credit and other facilities, particularly to
small and marginal farmers, agricultural labourers, artisans and small entrepreneurs.
RRBs are owned by the Central government, concerned State government and the
sponsor bank in proportion of 50:15:35 (each RRB is sponsored by a particular bank).
RRBs need to provide 75% of the lending to priority sectors. RRBs are under the
supervision of NABARD.
9. Local Area Banks (LAB) were set up as per a Government of India Scheme announced in
1996. The intention of the government was to set up new private local banks with
jurisdiction over two or three contiguous districts. The objective of establishing the local
area banks was to enable mobilization of the rural savings by local institutions and
make them available for investments in local areas. There are only four Local Area
Banks in India which exist in the form of Non-Scheduled banks, one such example is
Coastal Local Area Bank in Vijayawada, Andhra Pradesh.
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10. All India Financial Institutions (AIFIs), Non- Banking Financial Companies (NBFCs) and
Primary Dealers (PDs) form three important segments of the Non-Banking Financial
Institutions (NBFIs) sector in India that are regulated and supervised by the RBI. Credit
Information Companies (CIC) are also a category of Non-banking financial institutions
regulated by RBI.
11. AIFIs constitute institutional mechanism entrusted with providing sector-specific long-
term financing. Currently, there are four AIFIs also called Development Financial
Institutions (DFIs) regulated and supervised by the RBI.
12. NABARD:
NABARD was established in 1982 under the provisions of National Bank for
Agriculture and Rural Development Act 1981.
NABARD provides credit for the promotion of agriculture, small scale industries,
cottage and village industries, handicrafts and other rural crafts and other allied
economic activities in rural areas
NABARD acts as coordinator/supervisor in the operations of rural credit institutions
like RRBs and Rural Cooperative Banks (RBI has delegated its supervisory powers in
case of rural sector to NABARD while retaining its regulatory powers)
NABARD extends assistance to the government, RBI and other organizations in
matters relating to rural development
Offers training and research facilities for banks, cooperatives and organizations in
matters relating to rural development
It does not extend direct credit at individual level but extends indirect financial
assistance by way of refinance (NABARD finances those institutions which provide
financial assistance to rural sector). NABARD provides direct finance to institutions
as may be approved by the Central government.
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As per the RBI Act 1934, no NBFC can carry business without obtaining a certificate
of registration from RBI. However, in terms of powers given to the RBI, to remove
dual regulation, certain categories of NBFCs which are regulated by other
regulators are exempted from the requirement of registration with RBI for
example:
Venture Capital Fund, Merchant Banking Companies, Stock broking companies
registered with SEBI,
Insurance Company holding a valid certificate of registration issued by IRDA,
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Money and Banking – Part I [t.me/VivekSingh_Economy]
Micro Financial Institutions (MFIs) are a kind of NBFCs only but there are limits on
the amount of credit that they can provide. For people in rural areas the limit is Rs.
1.25 lakh and for people in urban and semi-urban areas the limit is Rs. 2 lakhs.
There are limits on how much a lender can lend (in aggregate Rs. 50 lakhs) and
how much a borrower can borrow and there is also a limit on time period.
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18. Primary dealers (PDs): Primary dealers are registered entities with the RBI who have the
license to purchase and sell government securities. PDs buy government securities
directly from the government in the primary market (RBI issues these government
securities on behalf of the government), aiming to resell them to other buyers in the
secondary market. Hence, they play a crucial role in fostering both the primary and
secondary government securities markets. As on 30th June 2015, there are seven
standalone PDs and thirteen banks authorized to undertake PD business
departmentally.
19. Credit Information Companies (CIC): A CIC is an independent organization that signs up
banks, NBFCs and financial institutions as its members and aggregates data and
identity information for individual consumers and businesses from its members. CICs
inform banks whether a prospective borrower is creditworthy or not based on his past
payment track record. The quality of information defines the ability of lenders to
evaluate risk and of consumers to obtain credit at competitive rates. The CICs are
regulated and licensed by RBI as per the Credit Information Companies (Regulation) Act
2005. Currently there are four CICs operating in India viz. TransUnion Credit
Information Bureau of India Limited (CIBIL), Equifax, Experian and High Mark Credit
Information Services.
India began its financial inclusion journey as early as in 1956 with the nationalisation of
Life Insurance companies. This was followed by nationalisation of banks in 1969 and 1980.
The general insurance companies were nationalised in 1972.With a view to bring the rural
areas in the economic mainstream, Indira Gandhi government established Regional Rural
Banks (RRB) in 1975. A host of initiatives have been under taken over the years in the
financial inclusion domain. In August 2014, Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana (PMJDY)
was launched to eradicate the financial untouchability from the country. Through this
scheme, financial inclusion of every individual who does not have a bank account is to be
achieved. Total around 37.87 crores accounts have been opened under PMJDY till January
2020.
Continuing its financial inclusion drives, the RBI has announced a “National Strategy for
Financial Inclusion (NSFI)”for India 2019-2024. The NSFI sets forth the vision and key
objectives of the financial inclusion policies in India to help expand and sustain the
financial inclusion process at the national level through a broad convergence of action
involving all the stakeholders in the financial sector. The strategy aims to provide access to
formal financial services in an affordable manner, broadening & deepening financial
inclusion and promoting financial literacy & consumer protection.
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Reserves
Bank Deposit
Lending
If banks are getting deposits of Rs. 1 lakh at 8% interest rate from the public then for banks
the cost of Rs. 1 lakh money is 8% (i.e. also called cost of deposits or cost of funds) and
banks will not be able to lend this money at less than 8% interest rate as banks will incur
losses. If banks are required to keep 20% of the public’s deposit as reserves with themselves
or RBI on which banks are not earning interest then it will be an extra cost for banks. So,
in such a situation the banks will be able to lend only Rs. 80,000 in the market. But they
need to pay the depositor 8% on Rs. 1 lakh i.e. Rs. 8000. Now to earn Rs. 8000 the banks
will have to lend the Rs. 80,000 in the market at 10% interest rate. But in lending and
deposit, the banks incur operational costs. Therefore, at what rate banks will lend will
depend on the cost of deposits (deposit rate), the cost of keeping reserves, the operational
cost of banks and the profit that the banks want to earn. And all these costs may be
different for different banks hence the lending rates of banks differ.
Money Market
(Debt papers are Banks
RBI
traded among RBI,
Banks, FIs, corporate)
Repo & Rev Repo Rate Call Money Rate Deposit & Lending Rate
When RBI changes the repo rate, reverse repo rate automatically changes (reverse repo rate
= repo rate – 0.25%). This means that the rate at which banks earn interest by keeping
their excess funds with RBI changes. This also impacts the rate at which money (debt
papers) is being traded in the money market i.e. “call money rate”. This is because if a bank
can earn interest rate equal to “reverse repo rate” by keeping its funds with RBI which is
totally risk free then they will charge higher interest rate for funds lent in the money
market. When the rate in the money market changes then banks also change their deposit
rates. This is because if the rate in the money market increases then the interest rate on
the bonds (in the capital market) also increases and banks facing competition from the
higher interest rate on bonds increase the interest rate for depositors. And when the deposit
rate changes, banks change their lending rates as already explained before.
[In short, Repo rate changes transmit through the money market to the entire financial
system, which, in turn, influences aggregate demand – a key determinant of inflation and
growth. The Monetary Policy Framework aims at setting the policy (repo) rate based on an
assessment of the current and evolving macroeconomic situation. Once the repo rate is
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Money and Banking – Part I [t.me/VivekSingh_Economy]
announced, the operating framework designed by the Reserve Bank envisages liquidity
management on a day-to-day basis through appropriate actions, which aim at anchoring
the operating target – the weighted average call rate/ money market rate – around
the repo rate.]
Financial markets play a critical role in effective transmission of monetary policy impulses
to the rest of the economy. Monetary policy transmission involves two stages:
In the first stage, monetary policy changes are transmitted through the money market
to other markets, i.e., the bond market and the bank loan market.
The second stage involves the propagation of monetary policy impulses from the
financial market to the real economy - by influencing spending decisions of individuals
and firms.
Within the financial system, money market is central to monetary operations conducted by the
central bank.
Base Rate:
Base Rate was introduced in July 2010 replacing the Benchmark Prime Lending Rate
(BPLR) system. Base Rate is the minimum rate below which Scheduled Commercial Banks
cannot lend. RBI publishes guidelines for calculation of Base Rate and every bank
calculates its own base rate.
Base rate calculation methodology was based on the following four factors:
(Average) Cost of deposits/funds (interest rate that bank offers to its depositors)
Cost of maintaining CRR and SLR (if the banks are required to keep higher reserves like
CRR and SLR, then they will be able to lend less money & will have to charge higher
interest rate)
Operational Costs of Banks
Return/profit on Net worth (investment)
From 1st April 2016, RBI introduced a new methodology for calculation of the Base Rates
based on marginal cost of funds rather than average cost of funds. This new methodology is
called Marginal Cost of Funds based Lending Rate (MCLR) or Base Rate based on marginal
cost of funds.
MCLR
MCLR calculation methodology is based on the following four factors: -
Marginal cost of deposits/funds
Cost of maintaining CRR and SLR
Operational Costs of Banks
Tenor Premium (based on the time period for which loan is given)
The basic difference between the previous Base Rate and the MCLR based rate is the
change of calculation of cost of deposits from average to marginal. The banks shall review
and publish their MCLR every month.
Let us understand the difference between Base Rate and MCLR in detail:
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Suppose RBI’s repo rate was 6.0% in January 2019 and the bank had accepted the deposits
at different rates in the past totalling Rs. 3 lakhs @ 9%, 8% and 7% interest rate. The
average costs of deposit/funds for the banks were 8% and suppose the bank’s lending rate
was 9.5% (calculated using average cost of deposit method) in January 2019.
Now suppose, RBI reduces its repo rate to 5.5% on 1st Feb 2019 and the bank reduced its
deposit rate to 6.5%. But the bank is still paying 8% deposit rate on an average to its
previous depositors and the banks’ cost of funds (for the past accumulated deposits) has
not reduced even if it has reduced the deposit rate for the new depositors to 6.5%. That is
why banks generally do not reduce their lending rates to the new borrowers even if they
have reduced their deposit rates for the new depositors. So, there used to be slow
transmission from repo rate to lending rate.
As per the MCLR methodology, the banks must link their lending rates with the
marginal/additional cost of deposits i.e. the rate at which they are receiving the new
deposits i.e. in the above case 6.5%. So, in this situation whenever RBI reduces the repo
rate, banks reduce their deposit rate and since the lending rate is linked to the new deposit
rate, they reduce the lending rate also. Hence, because of linking the lending rate with
marginal cost of deposits, there will be fast transmission of repo rate into lending rate
(better monetary policy transmission). It will also help improve the transparency in the
methodology followed by banks for determining the lending rates. The MCLR methodology
will help ensure availability of bank credit at interest rates which are fair to the borrowers
as well as banks.
Every Bank calculates its own MCLR rate based on cost of deposits, operational costs,
reserve requirements and tenor premium. So MCLR (or Base Rate) is an “internal
benchmark” which varies from bank to bank. Banks link their lending rate with MCLR.
But, the transmission of policy (repo) rate changes to the lending rate of banks under the
MCLR framework has not been satisfactory due the various reasons like:
Banks fearing that they will lose depositors/customers if they will reduce the deposit
rate first, and since deposit rate was not reduced, MCLR (or base rate) was also not
coming down.
Government offering higher interest rates on its own small savings schemes
Hence, RBI has made it mandatory for banks to link all new floating rate personal or retail
loans and floating rate loans to MSMEs to an external benchmark effective October 1,
2019. Banks can choose one of the four external benchmarks – repo rate, three-month
treasury bill yield, six-month treasury bill yield or any other benchmark interest rate
published by Financial Benchmarks India Pvt. Ltd. Banks are not mandated to link their
deposit rates with an external benchmark rate.
Now, suppose Axis Bank links its loan rates as per the following:
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Here, all the loans are linked to repo rate, which is an external benchmark, on which Axis
Bank do not have any control. So, the moment RBI changes the repo rate, it will
automatically be transmitted to the lending rates (for the new borrowers) at the same
moment (Even if the bank links the lending rate with Treasury bill yield; when RBI changes
repo rate, the T-bill yield also changes in the market immediately). The purpose of linking the
lending rate with an external benchmark is faster transmission of repo rate into lending
rate and this mechanism is more transparent also. Adopting of multiple benchmarks by the
same bank is not allowed within a loan category.
Banks are free to decide the components of spread and the amount of spread. But in
general, the spread consists of credit risk premium, business strategy, operational costs of
banks etc. While the banks will be free to decide on the spread over the external
benchmark, credit risk premium can change only when borrower’s credit assessment
undergoes a substantial change. The other components of the spread like operating cost
can be altered once in three years.
The interest rate under the external benchmark shall be reset at least once in three
months. This means that if a borrower has taken loan on 1st Jan 2020 and RBI changes the
repo rate on 1st Feb 2020, the borrower will not get immediate benefit of the rate cut as the
interest rate on his loan will get revised latest by 1st April 2020.
RBI has mandated banks to link the lending rate with an “anchor rate” like MCLR or some
external benchmark rate. But there is no mandate for NBFCs to link their lending rates.
[Students always ask that when a Question says "interest rate or market interest rate",
then what should we consider it, whether deposit or lending rate or something else???
So, the answer is: "Interest rate or Market Interest rate" is the rate at which money is
available in the market. Now, the rate at which money is available to banks (from public) is
called the deposit rate and the rate at which money is available to the public/companies (from
banks) is called the lending rate. So "interest rate" is a general term which could mean either
lending rate or deposit rate depending on the context.
Now, if the question says just "interest rate", you could assume anything either deposit rate or
lending rate and your answer will not get impacted. If the question requires a specify rate
then it will be mentioned in the question whether they mean deposit or lending rate.]
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Basel, a city in Switzerland, is the headquarters of Bank for International Settlement (BIS),
which fosters co-operation among Central Banks with a common goal of financial stability
and common standards of banking regulations. Every two months BIS hosts a meeting of
the governor and senior officials of central banks of member countries. Currently there are
28 member nations in the committee. Basel guidelines refer to broad supervisory standards
formulated by this group of central banks – called the Basel Committee on Banking
Supervision (BCBS). The set of agreement by the BCBS, which mainly focuses on risks to
banks and the financial system are called Basel accord. The purpose of the accord is to
ensure that financial institutions have enough capital on account to meet obligations and
absorb unexpected losses. India has accepted Basel accords for the banking system.
Basel I: In 1988, BCBS introduced capital measurement system called Basel capital
accord, also called as Basel I. It focused almost entirely on credit risk (the risk that some of
its borrowers may not repay the loan and it varies from borrower to borrower). It defined
capital and structure of risk weights for banks. The minimum capital requirement was fixed
at 8% of risk weighted assets. Risk weighted assets means assets with different risk
profiles. For example, an asset backed by collateral would carry lesser risks as compared to
personal loans, which have no collateral. India adopted Basel I guidelines in 1999.
Basel II: In June 2004, Basel II guidelines were published by BCBS, which were considered
to be the refined and reformed versions of Basel I accord. The guidelines were based on
three parameters, which the committee calls as pillars:
Supervisory Review: According to this, banks were needed to develop and use better risk
management techniques in monitoring and managing all the three types of risks that a
bank faces, viz. credit, market and operational risks
Basel III: In 2010, Basel III guidelines were released. These guidelines were introduced in
response to the financial crisis of 2008. A need was felt to further strengthen the system as
banks in the developed economies were under-capitalized, over-leveraged (high debt) and
had a greater reliance on short-term funding. Also, the quantity and quality of capital under
Basel II were deemed insufficient to contain any further risk. Basel III norms aim at making
most banking activities such as their trading book activities more capital-intensive. The
guidelines aim to promote a more resilient banking system by focusing on four vital
banking parameters viz. capital, leverage/debt, funding and liquidity.
The main objectives of Basel III are:
Improve the banking sector’s ability to absorb shocks arising from financial and
economic stress
Improve risk management and governance
Strengthen banks’ transparency and disclosure
Explanation: To understand Basel norms in a better way, let us understand the capital and
risk weighted assets of banks i.e. Capital to Risk Weighted Asset Ratio (CRAR) or Capital
Adequacy Ratio.
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Bank 1 Bank 2
Above is balance sheet of two banks where the owners of banks have put in Rs. 1 crore
each (which is considered as capital of bank) and public has deposited Rs. 3 crore in each
of the banks which is reflected on the liability side. This Rs. 4 crore of funds (from the
owners and depositors) have been given as loan by the banks. Bank 1 has given personal
loan of Rs. 1 crore and loan against some collateral/security of Rs 3 crore. And Bank 2 has
given personal loan of Rs. 3 crore and loan against some collateral/security of Rs 1 crore.
RBI specifies the risk weights of various kinds of assets depending on their risk profile. Just
assume that personal loan has risk weight of 100% and loan against collateral has risk
weight of 50%. Now let us calculate the Capital to Risk Weighted Asset Ratio (CRAR) of each
Bank.
Since CRAR of Bank1 is higher, it implies that the depositor’s money is safer in Bank1 as
compared to Bank2. Hence, higher the capital to risk weighted asset ratio (CRAR), higher is
the safety of bank deposits.
Even without calculating the CRAR ratio, we can compare the safety of depositor’s money in
Bank1 and Bank2. If we just look at the two bank’s balance sheet then we can see that if the
personal loan in both the banks become NPA then in case of Bank1 there are other assets
from which the depositors money can be returned but in case of Bank2 the depositors will not
be able to get their full money back.
To make banks safer, banks should have higher CRAR and to increase the CRAR the capital
of the banks must be increased. Capital is a combination of equity, equity-like
instruments and bonds. As per the international (Basel III) norms, the minimum capital
required is 10.5% which includes 2.5% capital conservation buffer (which is nothing but
just additional capital). In India RBI has kept Capital Adequacy Requirement of 11.5%
(including 2.5% capital conservation buffer).
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The higher the capital is above the regulatory minimum, the greater the freedom banks
have to make loans. The closer bank capital is to the minimum, the less inclined banks are
to lend. If capital falls below the regulatory minimum, banks cannot lend or face
restrictions on lending. When loans go bad and turn into non-performing assets (NPAs)
banks have to make provisions for potential losses (i.e. banks are required to keep certain
funds in reserve which they can’t lend and is called provisioning against NPAs). This tends to
erode bank capital and put brakes on loan growth. That is precisely the situation Public
Sector Banks (PSBs) have been facing since 2012-13. That is why Central Government has
planned for recapitalisation of PSBs so as to infuse funds to increase the capital adequacy
ratio.
RBI has postponed the deadline to achieve the BASEL III norms by 31st Oct. 2021.
For banks under PCA, RBI may put restrictions on branch expansion, distributing
dividends, capping compensation and fees of management and directors. In certain cases,
banks may be stopped from lending and there can be a cap on lending to specific
sectors/entities. Further, RBI may take steps to bring in new management/Board, appoint
consultants for business/ organizational structuring, take steps to change ownership and
can also take steps to merge the bank
Under PCA framework, RBI’s objective is to facilitate the banks to take corrective measures
including those prescribed by the Reserve Bank, in a timely manner, in order to restore
their financial health. The framework also provides an opportunity to the Reserve Bank to
pay focused attention on such banks by engaging with the management more closely in
those areas. The PCA framework is, thus, intended to encourage banks to eschew certain
riskier activities and focus on conserving capital so that their balance sheets can become
stronger. The RBI has clarified that the PCA framework is not intended to constrain normal
operations of the banks for the general public like lending and depositing. The PCA
framework is applicable only to commercial banks and not extended to co-operative banks
and non-banking financial companies (NBFCs).
Since a lot of urban-cooperative banks (UCBs) were also facing issues, RBI has brought in
“Supervisory Action Framework” (SAF) for UCBs in place of PCA for commercial banks.
The three parameters (NPA level, Return on Assets i.e. profit and Capital Adequacy Ratio),
based on which PCA is invoked, SAF is also invoked based on three similar parameters
(NPA level, two consecutive years loss and capital adequacy ratio), but the level may be
different at which SAF is triggered. SAF in UCB can also be initiated in case of serious
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governance issues. Once a UCB has been put under SAF, various restrictions on dividend,
donation, new loans, capital expenditure etc. can be imposed, which are again similar to
PCA restrictions.
As NABARD supervises Regional Rural Banks (RRBs) and Rural Cooperative Banks, it has
brought in Supervisory Action Framework (similar to PCA) for Regional Rural Banks (RRBs)
and is planning to bring SAF for Rural Cooperative Banks.
No such PCA/SAF exists for non bank entities (like NBFCs). But RBI has a department for
supervision of Non Bank entities
Such a perception and the expectation of government support (sometimes govt. come to the
rescue as they don’t want these institutions to fail because of their importance) may
increase risk taking, reduce market discipline, create competitive distortions and increase
the possibility of distress in futures. These institutions are also subjected to additional
regulatory/supervisory measures like capital requirements.
Banks are regulated by RBI and NBFCs are regulated by RBI/SEBI/IRDA. So, all these
regulatory bodies declare Systemically Important Institutions.
RBI declares those banks which has asset size of more than 2% of GDP as Domestically
Systemically Important Banks. It declares the list of DSIB annually and right now SBI,
HDFC & ICICI are classified as DSIB.
Similarly, RBI also declares Domestic Systemically Important NBFCs if their asset size is
more than Rs. 500 crore.
Similarly, IRDAI also declares Domestic Systemically Important Insurers (D-SII) based
on value of assets under management and premium underwritten (received). For 2020-
21, IRDAI has declared LIC/GIC/NIAC as D-SII.
Similarly SEBI also declares Domestically Systemically Important Financial Market
Infrastructures like commodity exchanges MCX/NCDEX.
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Foreign Investment
Foreign Direct Investment can come through two routes viz. automatic and government
approval route. More than 95% of the FDI comes in India through the “Automatic
Route” where no government approval is required and are subject to only sectoral laws.
Certain sectors that are still under “Government approval route” are scrutinised and
cleared by the respective departments and ministries.
As per the regulations under Foreign Exchange Management Act (FEMA) 1999, an
Indian company receiving FDI does not require any prior approval of RBI at any stage. It
is only required to report the capital inflow and subsequently the issue of shares to the
RBI in prescribed formats under both the routes.
Foreign Portfolio Investors (FPIs) are institutions incorporated outside India and include
mutual fund, insurance company, pension fund, banks, NRIs etc. registered with SEBI.
The following are some of the important differences/features of FDI and FPI:
It is sector specific. For example, a steel It is in general capital market. For example, a
company in US will invest only in a steel foreign investor is not particular about any
company in India and try to make that sector and is willing to invest in any
company profitable through their sector/company which gives a chance of
management and get a share of the profit share price appreciation
It is a long-term investment as to turn the It is generally short-term investment
company profitable, the foreign investor
needs to get invested for a long time.
Generally, there is a lock in period (one There is no lock in period and the foreign
year) and during this period the foreign investor can return any time by selling his
investor cannot sell his investment and investment. This makes the currency volatile
hence it is quite stable
It can happen through three routes:
Purchase of shares
Forming a Joint Venture company
Establishing a subsidiary
Government has accepted the international practice regarding the definitions of FDI and
FPI. Where the investor’s stake is 10 percent or less in a company it will be treated as FPI
and, where an investor has a stake of more than 10 percent, it will be treated as FDI. A
single foreign portfolio investor can invest maximum up to 10 percent in an Indian company
and all FPIs on aggregate basis can maximum invest up to the sectoral cap/ statutory
ceiling as applicable for that sector under foreign investment. Government now specifies
composite cap/ceiling for foreign investors (rather than separate limits for FDI and FPI) in
various sectors under which all kinds of foreign investments are allowed.
Following charts represent the FDI Inflow, net FDI and net FPI in the last few years in India
in Billion dollars.
Billion $ 2014-15 2015-16 2016-17 2017-18 2018-19 2019-20
FDI Inflow 35.3 44.9 42.2 39.4 43 56
FDI Net 31.2 36 35.6 30.3 30.7 43
FDI Net 42 -4.1 7.6 22.1 -0.6 1.4
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50 44.9
42.2 43
39.4
40 35.3
30
20
10
0
2014-15 2015-16 2016-17 2017-18 2018-19 2019-20
30
22.1
20
10 7.6
1.4
0
2014-15 2015-16 2016-17 2017-18 2018-19
-0.6 2019-20
-4.1
-10
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In 2019-20, India received the highest inflows of FDI from the following countries:
Singapore ($14.67 billion)
Mauritius ($8.24 billion)
Netherlands ($6.5 billioni)
US ($4.22 billion)
Cayman Islands ($3.7 billion)
The following are few other terms which are used to raise finance from abroad:
Masala Bonds are a kind of ECB where the bonds are issued outside India but
denominated in Indian Rupees, rather than the local currency. Masala is an Indian
word and it means spices. Unlike dollar bonds, where the borrower takes the currency
risk, Masala bond makes the investors bear the currency risk.
$1 = Rs. 70 (2019)
$1 Bond was issued to foreign investor Rs. 70 Bond was issued to foreign
and the borrower (Indian company) got investor and the borrower (Indian
$1 for one year. Money is raised in company) got $1(Dollar equivalent of Rs.
foreign currency and the borrower 70 is $1) for one year. (Since, the Indian
issued Dollar denominated bond to the rupee has limited convertibility, so money
foreign investor. is raised in dollar only). Money is raised in
foreign currency but the borrower issued
Rupee denominated bond to the foreign
investor.
$1=Rs. 80(2020)
In 2020, the borrower needs to return $1 In 2020, the borrower needs to return
to the foreign investor and for that he dollar equivalent of Rs. 70
will have to spend Rs. 80 to get $1. The (Rs.70/Rs.80* $1 = $0.875) to the foreign
conversion/exchange risk is of the investor rather than $1. So, basically the
borrower (Indian company). conversion/exchange risk was borne by
the foreign investor.
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The US investor wants to invest money in the company listed in India A (in which it
cannot directly invest).
The company listed in India (A) gives its shares to the Domestic Custodian Bank.
The Domestic Custodian Bank in India holds the shares and issues a certificate to
the Overseas Depository Bank abroad that it is holding the shares of the company A.
Then this Overseas Depository Bank gives an acknowledgement slip to the US
investor that some shares are being held on your behalf. This acknowledgement slip
(negotiable certificates) is called “Global Depository Receipts” (GDR) or “American
Depository Receipt” (ADR) in case of US/American investor. (The payment is
accordingly routed in opposite direction).
It may be possible that for every 10 shares one ADR/GDR is created. These
ADRs/GDRs can be listed abroad and traded also.
The company in India can be either a government company or a private company.
So, the US company will raise loan of $1 So, the Indian company will raise loan of
billion at 6% and give it to the Indian Rs. 70 billion at 9% and give it to the US
company working in US. company working in India.
The Indian company will keep on paying the The US company will keep on paying the
interest rate at 6% and after the term ends, interest rate 9% and after the term ends, it
it will give back the $1 billion amount to the will give back the Rs. 70 billion amount to
US company. the Indian company.
India and Japan signed currency swap agreement in 2018 worth $ 75 billion. As per the
arrangement India can/will get Yen (or dollars) from Japan worth max $ 75 billion and
Japan will get equivalent Indian Rupees as per the market exchange rate at the time of
transaction. The exchange will be reversed after an agreed period using the same exchange
rate as per in the first transaction.
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Whatever amount of dollars India will take from Japan, India will have to pay interest on
that amount and whatever Rupee Japan will take from India, Japan will have to pay
interest on that (depending on some benchmark rate). So, a bilateral currency swap is a
kind of open-ended credit line from one country to another at a fixed exchange rate. So,
India got dollars from Japan and Japan may or may not take Rupees from India. As India
would be paying interest on the dollars taken from Japan, so it does not matter whether
Japan took rupees from India or not. And that is why this currency swap is also called
open-ended credit line facility.
This currency swap arrangement will allow the Indian central bank to draw up to $75
billion worth of yen or dollars as a loan from the Japanese government whenever it needs
this money. The RBI can either sell these dollars (or yen) to importers to settle their bills or
to borrowers to pay off their foreign loans. The RBI can just keep these dollars with itself
also to shore up its own foreign exchange reserves and defend the rupee.
Actually, the rupee was falling against the dollar because of its widening current account
deficit. This led to importers upping their demand for dollars far beyond what exporters
bring into the country leading to further depreciation of rupee. If RBI would have gone to
the market to purchase these dollars (by selling rupees) then it would have further
depreciated the rupee. So, currency swap is a kind of out of market transaction.
Even if RBI has amassed dollars, having a $75-billion loan-on-demand (as and when need
arises) from Japan gives the RBI an additional buffer to fall back on, should it need extra
dollars. Hence, this currency swap agreement will bring in greater stability to foreign
exchange and capital markets in India.
These swap operations carry no exchange rate or other market risks, as transaction
terms are set in advance. The absence of an exchange rate risk is the major benefit of
such a facility. This facility provides the country, which is getting the dollars, with the
flexibility to use these reserves at any time in order to maintain an appropriate level of
balance of payments or short-term liquidity.
In July 2020, India and Sri Lanka signed a currency swap agreement worth $ 400 million
in which India will give dollars to Sri Lanka and in return India will get ‘Sri Lankan Rupee’.
The RBI also offers similar swap lines to central banks in the SAARC region within a total
corpus of $2 billion. Under the framework for 2019-22, the RBI will continue to offer a swap
arrangement within the overall corpus of $2 billion.
RBI Banks
Dollar
After 3 years
Rupee
RBI Banks
Dollar
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Under forex swap, RBI will buy dollars (say $ 1 billion) from Bank and give them Indian
rupees Rs. 70 billion (at the rate $1 = Rs. 70). After the swap period is over (3 years), RBI
will give back the $1 billion and will ask rupees from banks. The bank which will promise to
pay maximum premium above Rs. 70 will be selected by RBI for the swap deal. For
example, Bank A said Rs 0.50 per dollar, Bank B said Rs 0.40 per dollar and Bank C said
Rs 0.75 per dollar then, Bank C will be selected to do the swap agreement and Bank C will
have to offer Rs. 70.75 billion (Rs. 70.75/ dollar) after 3 years to RBI.
RBI in March 2019, did forex swap to increase (rupee) liquidity/money supply in the
economy because RBI had already exhausted much of the open market operation limit. And
RBI was not willing to further buy the government securities to inject money in the
economy. This swap deal lead to better transmission into the lending rate also.
The term “Strategic Disinvestment” means the sale of substantial portion of the
Government share-holding of a central public sector enterprise (CPSE) of up to 50%, or
such higher percentage (to the strategic partner) along with transfer of management control.
Strategic disinvestment is a way of privatisation.
“Even if the government gives its management control to another PSU (rather than a private
partner), it is also considered as strategic disinvestment”. For example, government has
transferred 100% of its ownership and management control in NEEPCO to NTPC.
The quantum of shares to be transacted, mode of sale and final pricing of the
transaction or lay down the principles/ guidelines for such pricing; and the selection of
strategic partner/ buyer; terms and conditions of sale; and
To decide on the proposals of Core Group of Secretaries on Disinvestment (CGD) with
regard to the timing, price, the terms & conditions of sale, and any other related issue to
the transaction.
This will facilitate quick decision-making and obviate the need for multiple instances of
approval by CCEA for the same CPSE.
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But disinvestment/ strategic disinvestment is like selling the family silver/gold and in future
nothing will be left to sell and cushion the fiscal deficit or financial difficulties.
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In the budget of 2021-22, Finance Minister presented the approved policy of strategic
disinvestment of public sector enterprises.
Highlights of Disinvestment/Strategic Disinvestment Policy
Objectives
Minimizing presence of Central Government Public Sector Enterprises including
financial institutions and creating new investment space for private sector.
Policy features
Policy covers existing CPSEs, Public Sector Banks and Public Sector Insurance
Companies.
In strategic sectors, there will be bare minimum presence of the public sector
enterprises. The remaining CPSEs in the strategic sector will be privatised or merged
or subsidiarized with other CPSEs or closed.
(Money flowing in the country is taken as + and money going out of the country is taken as
negative). For example, when India exports something it earns foreign currency and is taken
as positive in BoP record and when India imports something, we need to pay in foreign
currency and money goes out of the country and is taken as negative.
BoP has three main components viz. current account, capital account and foreign exchange
reserves (Forex).
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BoP
Current Account: Current account deals in those transactions which do not alter Indian
residents’ assets or liabilities, including contingent liabilities, outside India and foreign
resident’s assets or liabilities inside India. Current account comprises of visible trade
(export and import of goods), invisible trade (export and import of services), unilateral
transfers and investment income (income earned from factors of production such as land,
foreign shares, loans etc.).
Capital Account: The capital account is a record of the inflows and outflows of capital that
directly affect a country’s foreign assets and liabilities. Capital account transactions are
those transactions which alter Indian residents’ assets or liabilities, including contingent
liabilities, outside India and foreign resident’s assets or liabilities inside India. Capital
account comprises of foreign investments like FDI and FPI, Loans by companies and
governments and banking capital such as NRI deposits.
Explanation: When a person is purchasing shares abroad, it comes under capital account
as it is a change in assets. But when the person will receive dividend from the shares then
it comes under current account as it is not changing the assets. In the same way when we
are taking loan from an international agency then it comes under capital account as it is
creating liability. But when we are paying interest on this loan then it comes under current
account as interest payment is not reducing previous liabilities. Similarly, if we are
receiving gifts or grants or remittances then it is not creating any obligation or liability for
future and hence will come under current account.
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Assume that on 31st March 2017, RBI was having foreign exchange reserve (Forex) of $ 350
billion. Suppose, in the FY 2017-18, there was deficit in current account balance of $ 100
billion and a surplus in capital account balance of $ 150 billion. So, the overall balance of
payment will be + $ 50 billion in the FY 2017-18. Since we have earned net foreign
exchange worth $ 50 billion in the FY 2017-18, so our foreign exchange reserves will
increase at the end of the financial year to $ 400 billion.
The balance of payment deficit or surplus is obtained after adding the current account and
capital account balance which is then added or subtracted from the foreign exchange
reserves. A country is said to be in BoP equilibrium when the sum of its current account
and capital account equals zero. The reserve transactions are seen as the accommodating
item in the BoP.
Forex Cover: Presently India’s Forex reserves are around $585 billion and our monthly
imports (goods and services) are around $50 billion, which means that if we do not earn
additional Forex then this $585 billion will be sufficient for the next 12 months of import.
Thus we say that our present Forex reserves provide import cover for 12 months.
Remittances:
Balance of Payment (BoP) records all transactions which happen between 'Indian
Residents' AND 'Foreigners or Non-Resident Indians (NRI)'. NRI means a person has
gone abroad for more than 6 months and has plans to stay abroad. Now, when a person
goes to Gulf region generally for more than 6 moths he becomes an NRI and then
whatever he (NRI) sends money to his family here in India is counted in BoP. Now, try to
understand that this transaction between the 'NRI' AND 'His family in India' will get
recorded in BoP as this transaction is between 'Indian Resident (his family in India)' and
'NRI'. And this transaction between 'Indian Resident (his family in India)' and 'NRI' is
for free which means the 'Indian Resident (his family in India)' did not do anything for
the 'NRI' but 'NRI' gave money to 'Indian Resident (his family in India)' for free. This is
called Remittance under BoP in Current Account. But whatever the 'employer' pays to
the 'NRI' person will not be counted in BoP because both are Foreigners/NRIs.
Another case:
If I have gone to US for two months (that means I am still Indian Resident) and if I earn
something there and then send to my family in India then the transaction between "Me
(in US)" and "my family in India" will not be recorded in BoP because both the parties
in the transaction "Me (in US)" and "my family in India" are INDIAN RESIDENTS. BUT
whichever company (say X) paid me in US that transaction will be recorded in India's
BoP. This is because the transaction is between "Me (in US) [an Indian Resident]” and
“Company X [Foreigner]”. And this transaction is not for free, as I worked and then the
company X paid to me. So this is called 'Factor Income' under BoP (Current Account).
India is the largest recipient of remittances (private transfers) in the world and last year
it received $76 billion in remittances but this year (2020-21) it is going to decline to
around 25% to $55 billion. 62% of the remittances come from the countries in Gulf
Cooperation Council and Kerala is one of the largest recipients of remittances in India.
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Current Account Convertibility: RBI allows full conversion of Rupee into foreign
currencies and foreign currencies into Rupee (at market price i.e. Nominal Exchange Rate)
for any transactions under current account of BoP. This is called “rupee is fully convertible
at current account”. So, suppose someone wants to import commodities worth $10 billion in
India then RBI will convert that many Rupees into $10 billion without any restriction for
import purpose. As a part of the economic reforms initiated in 1991 rupee was made fully
convertible at current account in 1993.
Capital Account Convertibility: RBI does not allow full conversion of Rupee into foreign
currencies and foreign currencies into Rupee for transactions under capital account of BoP.
There are restrictions/limits imposed by the RBI and government on the value of
transactions that anybody can do under capital account. This is called “rupee is partially
convertible at capital account”. So, suppose someone wants to borrow $5 billion as External
Commercial Borrowing (ECB) then RBI has put restrictions and may not convert the whole
$5 billion into Rupees.
Capital account convertibility leads to free exchange of currency at market rates and an
unrestricted mobility of capital. It is beneficial for a country because it increases inflow of
foreign investment. But the flip side is that it could destabilize an economy due to massive
capital flows in and out of the country. RBI ex-Governor in April 2015 said that “India will
get to full capital account convertibility in a short number of years as we are in that path.”
Rupee will move to full capital account convertibility as the macroeconomic parameters like
current account deficit, fiscal deficit, external debt, inflation is in low range and stable.
Since capital convertibility is risky and makes foreign exchange rate more volatile, it is
introduced only sometime after the introduction of convertibility on current account when
exchange rate of currency of a country is relatively stable, deficit in balance of payments is
well under control and enough foreign exchange reserves are available with the Central
Bank.
There is no international authority which directs that trade between two countries should
happen only with some specific currencies. Any two countries are free to transact with any
currency if they are willing.
Generally, any country will accept that currency for its trade (exports), if that currency is not
losing value (less inflation) and it is stable and it is freely convertible in other currencies.
Nominal interest rate is the interest rate offered by banks on your deposits. People will be
willing to keep money in bank deposits only if banks are offering interest rate higher than
the inflation rate prevailing in the economy. Suppose inflation in the economy is 6% then
nobody will keep money in bank deposits at less than 6% interest rate. Because at this rate
effective earning for the individual will be either zero ore negative. Until and unless banks
offer higher deposit rates than the inflation rate, nobody will keep money in banks. This
rate in addition to the inflation is called real interest rate as it is the real or effective earning
for depositors.
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For example, if inflation rate is 6% in the economy and banks are offering 8% on their
deposits, this implies real interest rate of 2%. That means, effectively the earning or return
for the depositors is 2% .Consider an example:
Suppose the economy is in recession and the inflation/prices are falling down as shown
above. To pull the economy out of recession i.e. to stimulate the economy, the Central Bank
may reduce the repo rate to increase the supply of money and to push demand. When the
repo rate is reduced, the banks will reduce the deposit rates and lending rate. But if the
demand and the inflation in the economy is falling, the Central Bank may further reduce
the repo rate to increase the money supply and demand. But if still the economy is not
pulled out of recession and the prices are falling, the Central Bank may keep on reducing
the repo rate and the banks will keep on reducing their deposit and lending rates. The
Central Bank will keep on reducing the repo rate till the repo rate (almost) touches zero. At
this point, the banks deposit rate and lending rate will also reach almost zero. The Central
Bank cannot reduce the repo rate beyond zero and similarly banks also cannot reduce their
deposit and lending rate beyond zero (practically the lower limit on repo rate, lending rate or
deposit rates are zero). The Central Bank cannot stimulate the economy beyond this point
and it is trapped in a quagmire called the Liquidity Trap. At this point the government
should use its fiscal policy to pull the economy out of recession/slowdown.
In case of liquidity trap, people keep their funds in normal savings account (demand
deposits) and do not want to lock their investment in fixed deposits at a very low interest
rate. They hope that in future the interest in the market will rise and then they will invest
in bonds or other instruments.
It is called a ‘trap’ because if investors hold on to cash (or in demand form) instead of
spending or investing it because they expect the economy to be weak, the economy will stay
weak. Additionally, it is a ‘trap’ because the central bank cannot lower the interest below zero
to stimulate lending or spending.
2.26 Inflation
The rate at which general level of prices of goods and services rises and subsequently
purchasing power falls is called inflation. Depending on the level of severity, it can be
classified into three categories.
1. Low Inflation: Prices that rise slowly and predictably and the rate is in single digit
annually. In case of low inflation, people are willing to save money and put in bank
deposits. People are willing to sign long term contracts (linked with inflation index) in
money terms because they are confident that the relative prices of goods and services
they buy and sell will not get too far out of line.
2. Galloping Inflation: Inflation in double digit or triple digit range of 20, 100 or 200
percent per year is called galloping inflation or very high inflation. It is found in
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countries suffering from weak governments, war or revolution. In this case people will
hoard goods, buy houses and never ever lend money at low nominal interest rates.
People are not willing to deposit money in banks as banks offer less nominal interest
rate (deposit rate) as compared to the inflation rate prevailing in the economy.
Businessmen are also not willing to invest as the lending rates are high and demand
declines.
3. Hyper Inflation: Prices rise over a million percent per year and relative prices become
highly unstable. In early 1920’s, Germany could not raise taxes and used monetary
printing press to pay the government bills. People used to carry money in bags to
purchase goods. In USSR in 1991 when prices were freed from the government controls,
prices rose by 4,00,000 percent in next five years.
2. Cost Push or Supply Shock Inflation: Cost-push inflation basically means that prices
have been “pushed up” by increases in costs of any of the four factors of production
(labour, capital, land or entrepreneurship) or there is a supply shortage which allows
the producer to raise prices. Inflation occurs because of increase in cost of inputs rather
than because of increase in demand. Cost push inflation may be caused due to wage
inflation (overall increase in the cost of goods due to rise in wages), monopoly situation,
natural disasters, devaluation of exchange rates (leads to inflation in imported products)
etc.
Deflation: A general decline in prices, often caused by a reduction in the supply of money.
Deflation can also be caused by a decrease in government, personal or investment
spending. The opposite of inflation, deflation is bad because of the following reason:
When prices start falling i.e. there is deflation, people become less willing to spend and
postpone their purchase decisions. This is because when prices are falling, just sitting on
cash becomes an investment with a positive real yield. This decreases the demand in the
economy and prices fall further and economy slows down. People are less willing to borrow
also even for a productive investment because it has to be repaid in rupees that are worth
more than the rupees borrowed. Deflation thus increases unemployment since there is a
lower level of demand in the economy, which may also lead to an economic depression.
Disinflation: Disinflation is the slowing down in the rate of inflation. It means there is
inflation in the economy but the inflation percentage is decreasing and is positive. For
example, let us consider the prices of onions:
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So, in the above example, prices are rising but the “rate of change of prices” i.e. inflation
is decreasing.
In case of recession (or slowdown), generally demand starts decreasing first (which can be
because of any reason) and then companies reduce their production resulting in overall
contraction in output and then we say that there is recession. So, in case of economic
recession, there should not be high inflation as the demand reduces first and then the
output/supply reduces.
In exceptional cases, recession (or slowdown) can be triggered by supply side factors like
drought or Lockdown (of factories in case of Covid-19), in which case the inflation may be
high. But it will be for short span of time as the resulting loss of jobs will lead to reduction
in demand and decrease in inflation.
2.27 Unemployment
Population
Employed Unemployed
(Do not have job but actively looking for job)
The whole population of the country can be categorized into “labour force” and “not in the
labour force”. Not in the labour force means that population who cannot do job like children
and elderly or who are keeping house or any other person who is not interested in doing
any job. Labour force means that population who is either employed or who is unemployed
i.e. not employed but actively looking for job.
Economists define unemployed person as one who is not able to get employment of even
one hour in half a day.
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Periodic Labour Force Survey (PLFS) done by National Statistical Office (NSO) produces
annual statistics of employment and unemployment characteristics
Directorate General of Employment and Training Data of registration with Employment
Exchanges (under Ministry of Labour and Employment)
Example: Earlier people used hand looms to make textiles. Many weavers were engaged
in making cloth through the use of these hand looms. The Industrial Revolution came
along, and machines were created that could weave the cloth without the use of a
skilled weaver. All of a sudden, weavers were out of work, and their skills didn’t match
the needs of the marketplace.
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6. Open Unemployment: In many cities, you might find people standing in some select
areas looking for people to employ them for that day’s work. Some go to factories and
offices and give their bio-data ask for a job but stay home when there is no work. Some
go to employment exchanges and register themselves for vacancies notified through
employment exchanges. Open unemployment is a situation in which all those who,
owing to lack of work, are not working but either seek work through employment
exchanges, intermediaries, friends or relatives or by making applications to prospective
employers or express their willingness or availability for work under the prevailing
condition of work and remunerations. This kind of unemployment is clearly visible in
the society.
The theory states that with economic growth comes inflation, which in turn should lead to
more jobs and less unemployment. However, the original concept has been somewhat
disproven empirically due to the occurrence of stagflation in the 1970s, when there were
high levels of both inflation and unemployment.
8%
Inflation rate
6%
4%
2%
1. Consider the following actions which the Government can take: [2011]
(i) Devaluing the domestic currency
(ii) Reduction in the export subsidy
(iii) Adopting suitable policies which attract greater FDI and more funds from FIIs
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Which of the above action/actions can help in reducing the current account deficit?
(a) (i) & (ii)
(b) (ii) & (iii)
(c) (iii) only
(d) (i) & (iii)
2. Microfinance is the provision of financial services to people of low-income groups. This includes
both the consumers and the self-employed. Services rendered under microfinance is/are: [2011]
(i) Credit facilities
(ii) Savings facilities
(iii) Insurance facilities
(iv) Fund transfer facilities
Select the correct answer using the codes given below the lists:
(a) (i) only
(b) (i) & (iv) only
(c) (ii) & (iii) only
(d) (i), (ii), (iii) & (iv)
5. The Reserve Bank of India regulates the commercial banks in matters of [2013]
(i) Liquidity of assets
(ii) Branch expansion
(iii) Merger of banks
(iv) Winding-up of banks
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11. Which of the following is likely to be the most inflationary in its effect? [2013]
(a) Repayment of public debt
(b) Borrowing from the public to finance a budget deficit
(c) Borrowing from banks to finance a budget deficit
(d) Creating new money to finance a budget deficit
12. Supply of money remaining the same when there is an increase in demand for money, there will
be [2013]
(a) A fall in the level of prices
(b) An increase in the rate of interest
(c) A decrease in the rate of interest
(d) An increase in the level of income and employment
13. With reference to Balance of Payments, which of the following constitutes/constitute the Current
Account? [2014]
(i) Balance of trade
(ii) Foreign assets
(iii) Balance of invisibles
(iv) Special Drawing Rights
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15. In the context of Indian economy, which of the following is/are the purpose/purposes of
“Statutory Reserve Requirements”? [2014]
(i) To enable the Central Bank to control the amount of advances the banks can create
(ii) To make the people’s deposits with banks safe and liquid
(iii) To prevent the commercial banks from making excessive profits
(iv) To force the banks to have sufficient vault cash to meet their day-to-day requirements
19. There has been a persistent deficit budget year after year. Which of the following actions can be
taken by the Government to reduce the deficit? [2015]
(i) Reducing revenue expenditure
(ii) Introducing new welfare schemes
(iii) Rationalizing subsidies
(iv) Expanding industries
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20. When the Reserve Bank of India reduces Statutory Liquidity Ratio by 50 basis points, which of the
following is likely to happen? [2015]
(a) India’s GDP growth rate increases drastically
(b) Foreign Institutional Investors may bring more capital into our country
(c) Scheduled Commercial Banks may cut their lending rates
(d) It may drastically reduce the liquidity to the banking system
22. With reference to ‘IFC Masala Bonds’, sometimes seen in the news, which of the statements given
below is/are correct? [2016]
(i) The International Finance Corporation, which offers these bonds, is an arm of the World Bank
(ii) They are the rupee-denominated bonds and are a source of debt financing for the public and
private sector
23. The term ‘Core Banking Solutions’ is sometimes seen in the news. Which of the following
statements best describes/describe this term? [2016]
(i) It is a networking of a bank’s branches which enables customers to operate their accounts
from any branch of the bank on its network regardless of where they open their accounts.
(ii) It is an effort to increase RBI’s control over commercial banks through computerization.
(iii) It is a detailed procedure by which a bank with huge non-performing assets is taken over by
another bank
24. What is/are the purpose/purposes of the ‘Marginal Cost of Funds based Lending Rate (MCLR)’
announced by RBI? [2016]
(i) These guidelines help improve the transparency in the methodology followed by banks for
determining the interest rates on advances.
(ii) These guidelines help ensure availability of bank credit at interest rates which are fair to the
borrowers as well as the banks.
25. With reference to ‘Bitcoins’, sometimes seen in the news, which of the following statements is/are
correct? [2016]
(i) Bitcoins are tracked by the Central Banks of the countries.
(ii) Anyone with a Bitcoin address can send and receive Bitcoins from anyone else with a Bitcoin
address.
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(iii) Online payments can be sent without either side knowing the identity of the other.
27. What is /are the purpose/ purposes of Government’s Sovereign Gold Bond Scheme’ and ‘Gold
Monetization Scheme’? [2016]
(i) To bring the idle gold lying with Indian households into the economy
(ii) To promote FDI in the gold and jewellery sector
(iii) To reduce India’s dependence on gold imports
29. What is the purpose of setting up of Small Finance Banks (SFBs) in India? [2017]
(i) To supply credit to small business units
(ii) To supply credit to small and marginal farmers
(iii) To encourage young entrepreneurs to set up business particularly in rural areas.
30. Which one of the following best describes the term "Merchant Discount Rate" sometimes seen in
news? [2018]
(a) The incentive given by a bank to a merchant for accepting payments through debit cards
pertaining to that bank.
(b) The amount paid back by banks to their customers when they use debit cards for financial
transactions for purchasing goods or services.
(c) The charge to a merchant by a bank for accepting payments from his customers through the
bank's debit cards.
(d) The incentive given by the Government, to merchants for promoting digital payments by their
customers through Point of Sale (PoS) machines and debit cards.
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31. Which one of the following statements correctly describes the meaning of legal tender money?
[2018]
(a) The money which is tendered in courts of law to defray the fee of legal cases
(b) The money which a creditor is under compulsion to accept in settlement of his claims
(c) The bank money in the form of cheques, drafts, bills of exchange, etc.
(d) The metallic money in circulation in a country
34. Which of the following is not included in the assets of a commercial bank in India? [2019]
(a) Advances
(b) Deposits
(c) Investments
(d) Money at call and short notice
35. In the context of India, which of the following factors is/are contributor/ contributors to reducing
the risk of a currency crisis? [2019]
(i) The foreign currency earnings of India's IT sector
(ii) Increasing the government expenditure
(iii) Remittances from Indians abroad
36. Which one of the following is not the most likely measure the Government/RBI takes to stop the
slide of Indian rupee? [2019]
(a) Curbing imports of non-essential goods-and promoting exports
(b) Encouraging Indian borrowers to issue rupee denominated Masala Bonds
(c) Easing conditions relating to external commercial borrowing
(d) Following an expansionary monetary policy
37. The money multiplier in an economy increases with which one of the following? [2019]
(a) Increase in the cash reserve ratio
(b) Increase in the banking habit of the population
(c) Increase in the statutory liquidity ratio
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38. If another global financial crisis happens in the near future, which of the following
actions/policies are most likely to give some immunity to India? [2020]
1. Not depending on short-term foreign borrowings
2. Opening up to more foreign banks
3. Maintaining full capital account convertibility
39. If you withdraw Rs. 1,00,000 in cash from your demand deposit account at your bank, the
immediate effect on aggregate money supply in the economy will be [2020]
(a) To reduce it by Rs. 1,00,000
(b) To increase it by Rs. 1,00,000
(c) To increase it by more than Rs. 1,00,000
(d) To leave it unchanged
40. Under the Kisan Credit Card Scheme, short-term credit support is given to farmers for which of
the following purposes? [2020]
41. With reference to the Indian economy, consider the following statements: [2020]
1. ‘Commercial Paper’ is a short-term unsecured promissory note
2. ‘Certificate of Deposit’ is a long term instrument issued by the RBI to a corporation
3. ‘Call money’ is a short-term finance used for interbank transactions.
4. ‘Zero coupon Bonds’ are the interest bearing short-term bonds issued by the Scheduled
Commercial Banks to corporations
42. With reference to Foreign Direct Investment in India, which of the following is considered its major
characteristics? [2020]
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