| 1 Apr
1935 |
Reserve Bank of India commences
operations. Sir Osborne Smith the first Governor of the Bank. The
Bank was constituted as a shareholders' bank. |
| 5 Jul 1935 |
Scheduled banks
required to maintain the Cash Reserve Ratio, i.e., hold cash
balances with the RBI equivalent to 5% of their Demand Liabilities
and 2% of their Time Liabilities. |
| Oct
1935 |
London Office of the Reserve
Bank set up. This was closed on September 30, 1963. |
| 1 Nov 1936 |
Resignation of
the first Governor, Sir Osborne Smith, wef July 1, 1937. |
| 15 Jan
1937 |
Indian Companies (Amendment)
Act, 1936 devotes a separate chapter exclusively to Banks. |
| 1 July 1937 |
Sir James Braid
Taylor assumes office as Governor. |
| 1937 |
RBI acts as banker to the
Government of Burma and also responsible for note issue in
Burma. |
|
Jan 1938 |
First Reserve
Bank notes issued. |
| 21 Jun
1938 |
The Failure of the Travancore
National and Quilon Bank, the largest bank in the Travancore region,
underlined the need for comprehensive banking reform and
legislation. |
| 3 Sep 1939 |
Introduction of
Exchange Controls in India under Defence of India Rules. |
| 11 Mar
1940 |
RBI Accounting Year changed from
Jan-Dec to July-June. |
|
1940 |
The silver rupee
replaced by the quarternary alloy rupee. One Rupee note
reintroduced. This note had the status of a rupee coin and
represented the introduction of official fiat money in India. |
| 11 Aug
1943 |
Sir C. D. Deshmukh assumes
office of Governor. |
|
1944 |
The security
thread on notes introduced for the first time in India as a security
feature. |
|
1944 |
Laws relating to Government
securities and to the management of Public Debt by the Reserve Bank
of India consolidated on the basis of the Public Debt Act,
1944. |
|
26 May 1945 |
Speculative
activity in the financial and bullion markets. Defence of India
Rules invoked to authorise the Reserve Bank to collect information
from banks in respect of advances. This was to check advances
against bullion for speculation. |
| 9 Jun
1945 |
Reserve Bank of India entrusted
with the Currency & Coinage of the British Military
Administration of Burma as well as Banker to BMA. |
| 12 Jan 1946 |
High
Denomination Bank Notes of Rs 500, Rs 1000 and Rs 10,000 Demonetised
to curb unaccounted money. |
|
1946 |
Interim arrangements for Bank
Supervision were put in place by ordinances which were later
replaced by the Banking Companies Act, 1949. These Ordinances
empowered the Reserve Bank to inspect banks, as well as authorise
the licensing of bank branches. |
| 30 Jun 1948 |
RBI ceased to
function as the Central Bank of Pakistan. State Bank of Pakistan
commenced operations wef July 1, 1949. |
| 1 Jan
1949 |
Reserve Bank of India
nationalised. |
| 16 Mar 1949 |
Coming into
force of the Banking Companies Act, 1949. This formed the statutory
basis of bank supervision and regulation in India.
The Statutory
Liquidity Ratio (SLR) requiring banks to maintain liquid assets was
introduced for the first time. The Banking Companies Act was later
renamed the Banking Regulation Act. |
| 1 Jul
1949 |
Sir Benegal Rama Rau assumes
office as Governor |
|
19 Sep 1949 |
Rupee devalued
by 30.5 % as a defensive measure consequent to the devaluation by
other 'sterling area' countries. |