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The Reserve Bank of India is among the most transparent central banks in the world. The policy of transparency is evident from the information and data presented by the Reserve Bank in its annual, quarterly, monthly, weekly and occasional publications.
It is also a subscriber to the Special Data Dissemination Standards (SDDS)defined by the International Monetary Fund (URL:www.imf.org) for publishing data.
The sources of information are mainly publications - some of them periodical and
others occasional. They are:
Statutory
Annual Report
The annual report of the Reserve Bank is the most important document released every
year in late August. It is the statement of the Board of Directors on the state
of the economy, and on the balance sheet of the Reserve Bank. It also presents an
assessment and prospects of the Indian economy.
TThe annual report is a statutory document relating to the financial year of the
Reserve Bank (July to June) and is released in August.
Report on Trend and Progress of Banking in India
This is also a statutory publication produced by the central bank. Presented annually,
this document is a review of the policies for and performance of the financial sector
for the preceding year. The publication, covering period from April to March, is
generally released around November/December.
Lectures
The Reserve Bank of India has instituted three annual lectures. Two of these commemorate
past Governors of the Reserve Bank and one a noted monetary economist.
Report on Currency and Finance
A favourite of researchers, this annual document is presented by the staff of the
central bank. Since ...the Report dwells around a particular theme and presents
a detailed economic analysis of the issues related to the theme. While the focus
of the Report is on the policy approach, issues and challenges relevant to India,
the various Chapters present these developments against the recent theoretical developments
and the accumulated cross-country empirical evidence. Since the publication is released
around December, it also serves the purpose of presenting a mid-year review of the
economy.
Handbook of Statistics on the Indian Economy: This publication is a major initiative
by the Reserve Bank aimed at improving data dissemination by providing a useful
storehouse of statistical information at one place. The publication provides time-series
data (annual/quarterly/monthly/fortnightly/daily) pertaining to a broad spectrum
of economic variables, including data on national income, output, prices, money,
banking, financial markets, public finance, trade and balance of payments. The publication
is also available in a hard copy as well as a CD-ROM format.
State Finances: A Study of Budgets: Again a favourite of researchers, this publication
provides a comprehensive analytical assessment of the finances of the State Governments.
Consolidated data of all State Governments are analysed in addition to State-wise
analysis to draw policy implications.
Macroeconomic and Monetary Developments: Issued along with the Annual Policy Statement
of the Reserve Bank of India, this publication provides an analytical overview of
macroeconomic and monetary developments during the year under review. The publication
serves as a backdrop and rationale of the monetary policy for the year.
Statistical Tables relating to Banks in India
This annual publication contains comprehensive data relating to the commercial banking
sector. It covers balance sheet information as well as performance indicators of
each commercial bank in India including those registered abroad. The data are presented
bank group-wise and state-wise.
Basic Statistical Returns
Yet another data-oriented publication, this annual presents comprehensive data on
number of offices, employees, deposits and credit as per occupation of scheduled
commercial banks. One of the features of this publication is that region-wise, state-wise
and district-wise information is made available to the public.
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