The January 2013 Bulletin will release an advance indicative calendar of articles to be published during the course of the calendar year 2013. The Bulletin articles will also be more focussed and analytical, putting forth the views of the Reserve Bank’s research staff on varied issues. This would contribute further towards enhancing transparency. The size of the weekly Statistical Supplement will get reduced to a 4-page statement from the current 8-page with a view to making it crisp and analytically more informative.
It has always been the endeavour of the Reserve Bank to disseminate the information in a timely manner as widely as possible. In this pursuit, the Reserve Bank of India Monthly Bulletin and the Weekly Statistical Supplement (WSS) have a long and chequered history. While the Bulletin made its first appearance in January 1947, the weekly statement preceded the Bulletin providing, among others, the weekly statement of affairs of the Reserve Bank of the preceding Friday. With the passage of time, both these publications have undergone major changes in substance and form in tune with time and state of the economy.
One of the most sweeping changes in recent period has been the increasing use of electronic media, such as, the website and CDs, for dissemination of information. Market participants and other stake-holders in fact, look forward to the real-time dissemination of policies, analysis and data.
Against this backdrop, the Reserve Bank had recently undertaken a review of the Monthly Bulletin and the WSS. Accordingly, various changes are being made starting from January 2013 for timely dissemination of information consistent with international best practice. The Bulletin will continue to publish policy initiatives including monetary policy statements and their reviews, Macroeconomic and Monetary Developments, information on market operations and speeches of the Top Executives of the Reserve Bank. It will also continue to release as supplements, the flagship publications of the Reserve Bank viz., Annual Report, Report on Trend and Progress of Banking in India and Financial Stability Report.
The “Current Statistics” part of the Bulletin will continue to offer the latest snapshot of the Indian economy, focussing on the financial sector and the primary data originating from the Reserve Bank; and the long time series will continue to be available on-line on the Reserve Bank’s Database of the Indian Economy at http://dbie.rbi.org.in. The “Current Statistics” will also include additional tables on sectoral deployment of credit, new consumer price index, turnover in select financial markets, payment system indicators, external commercial borrowings and international investment position for wider dissemination of critical information on the economy.
Comments and suggestions on the restructured Bulletin and WSS are welcome and may please be forwarded by email or by post to the Director, Division of Reports and Knowledge Dissemination, Department of Economic Policy and Research, Reserve Bank of India, Central Office, Fort, Mumbai 400 001.
Sangeeta Das
Director
Press Release : 2012-2013/1056 |