Definition
Reserve Bank of India (RBI)
The RBI is India's central bank and monetary authority, responsible for issuing currency, setting policy rates, regulating banks and managing the government's debt.
The RBI anchors India's financial system. It conducts monetary policy through the repo rate to manage inflation and growth, regulates and supervises banks and many non-bank lenders, manages foreign exchange reserves, and acts as banker and debt manager to the government.
Its Monetary Policy Committee sets the policy rate against a flexible inflation target agreed with the government. The RBI also runs critical infrastructure for payments and market borrowing, and has rolled out initiatives like the CBDC (Digital Rupee) and RBI Retail Direct.
Related terms
- SEBISEBI is the Securities and Exchange Board of India, the statutory regulator of the securities markets, protecting investors and overseeing exchanges, intermediaries and listed companies.
- Market Borrowing (Dated Securities)Market borrowing is the money the government raises by issuing dated securities — long-term bonds — to investors to finance its fiscal deficit.
- CBDC (Digital Rupee)The CBDC, or Digital Rupee, is a central bank digital currency issued by the RBI as a sovereign digital form of cash.
Plain-English explainer from The Dispatch Investors Encyclopedia. General information, not financial advice.