The Government of India has enacted the Right to Information Act, 2005 (http://www.persmin.nic.in) which has come into effect from October 12, 2005. The Right to Information under this Act is meant to give to the citizens of India access to information under control of public authorities to promote transparency and accountability in these organisations. The Act, under Sections 8 and 9, provides for certain categories of information to be exempt from disclosure. The Act also provides for appointment of a Chief Public Information Officer to deal with requests for information.

Information under the Right to Information Act will be provided to the eligible applicants as per the provisions of the Act and in accordance with the orders of the Supreme Court

If you feel that the Reserve Bank of India should release any information in addition to what it already releases, please send us your suggestions by email . If, however, you need any specific information on an ad hoc basis, you may make an application under the Right to information Act, 2005. It needs to be emphasised that this mechanism is only meant for seeking information and NOT for making complaints. The Reserve Bank of India has a separate mechanism for redressal of complaints against banks and its own departments.

Like individual consumers, businesses and organisation of all kinds, banks need their own mechanism to transfer funds and settle inter-bank transaction-such as borrowing from and lending to other banks-and customer transactions. As the banker to banks, the Reserve Bank fulfills this role.

Since its inception, Reserve Bank of India has undertaken the traditional central banking function of managing the government’s banking transactions. The Reserve Bank of India Act, 1934 requires the Central Government to entrust the Reserve Bank with all its money, remittance, exchange, and banking transactions in India. The Reserve Bank may also, by an agreement, act as a banker to State Governments.

The Reserve Bank has well defined obligations and provides several banking services to the Governments. As a banker to the Government, the Reserve Bank receives and pays money on behalf of the various Government Departments. It provides Ways and Means Advances – a short-term interest-bearing advance – to the Governments, to meet temporary mismatches in their receipts and payments. Besides, like a portfolio manager, it also arranges for investment of surplus cash balances of the Governments. The Reserve Bank acts as an adviser to the Government, whenever called upon to do so, on monetary and banking related matters. The Central Government and State Governments may make rules for the receipt, custody and disbursement of money from the consolidated fund, contingency fund, and public account. These rules are legally binding on the Reserve Bank as accounts for these funds are with the Reserve Bank.

The banking functions for the Governments are carried out by the Government Banking Divisions at the offices/branches of the Reserve Bank. As it has offices and sub-offices in 34 locations, the Reserve Bank appoints other banks to act as its agents for undertaking the banking business on behalf of the Governments. The Reserve Bank pays commission to the agency banks for the same. Final compilation of Government accounts, of the Centre and the States, is done at Central Accounts Section, Nagpur office of the Reserve Bank.

Banks are also required to maintain a portion of their demand and time liabilities as cash reserves with the Reserve Bank. For this purpose, they need to maintain current account with the Reserve Bank. The current account of the banks is opened by the Banking Departments of the Reserve Bank’s Regional offices. The Department of Government and Bank Accounts (DGBA) issues general guidelines for opening the current accounts.

Under Sections 20 and 21 of the RBI Act, 1934, the RBI shall have an obligation and right respectively to accept monies for account of the Central Government and to make payments up to the amount standing to the credit of its account, and to carry out its exchange, remittance, and other banking operations.

Under the administrative arrangements, the Central Government is required to maintain a minimum cash balance with the RBI. The following accounts of Central Government are maintained in the Regional Offices of RBI and the Principal account of these accounts are maintained at Central Accounts Section (CAS), RBI, Nagpur: i. Central Government - Civil; ii. Railway Fund; iii. Post Fund; iv. Telecommunication Fund; v. Defence Fund; and vi. Departmentalized Ministries. All receipts, payments /disbursements, clearing/remittance transactions take place through these accounts. The Reserve Bank is in the process of opening of more accounts for the Governments for processing the payments which were hitherto handled by the agency banks.

The Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) constituted by the Central Government under Section 45ZB of the Reserve Bank of India Act, 1934 determines the Policy Rate required to achieve the inflation target. The MPC meets every two months. The resolutions adopted by the MPC in its meetings are published after conclusion of the meetings as per Section 45ZK of the RBI Act, 1934. The minutes of the meetings are released on the fourteenth day after the resolutions are published as per Section 45ZL of the RBI Act, 1934.

Will I have to pay to get the information?

As per the Right to Information (Regulation of Fee and Cost) Rules, 2005, the public authority shall charge:

• Rs.2/- for each page (in A-4 or A-3 size paper) created or copied;
• actual charge or cost price of a copy in larger size paper;
• actual cost or price for samples or models; and
• for inspection of records, no fee for the first hour; and a fee of Rs.5/- for each subsequent hour (or fraction thereof )

Under Section 21A of the RBI Act, 1934 ibid the Bank may, by agreement, with the Government of any State, undertake all its money, remittance, exchange, and banking transactions in India, including in particular, the deposit, free of interest, of all its cash balances with the Bank. Accordingly, as of now, the Bank is banker to all the States and the Union Territories in the country, except for the State of Sikkim. All the State Governments are required to maintain a minimum balance with the Reserve Bank, which varies from State to State, depending on the relative size of the State budget and its economic activity. To tide over temporary mismatches in the cash flow of receipts and payments, the Reserve Bank provides Special Drawing Facility (SDF), Normal Ways and Means Advances and Overdraft (OD) to the State Governments.

Under section 45(1) of RBI Act 1934, the Reserve Bank, may, having regard to public interest, convenience of banking, banking development and such other factors which in its opinion are relevant in this regard, appoint any scheduled bank as its agent at all places, or at any place in India for such purposes as the Bank may specify. Presently, the Reserve Bank has appointed 12 public sector banks, 20 private sector banks and 01 foreign sector bank (WOS) as its agency banks for conducting Government banking business. Business allocation to the agency banks is done in consultation with the Governments.

The list of Agency Banks is as below

Further, to provide information under Section 7(5) of the Right to Information Act, 2005, the public authority shall charge:

• Rs. 50/- per diskette or floppy; and
• for information provided in printed form at the price fixed for such publication or Rs. 2/- per page of photocopy for extracts from the publication

• At what stage will I have to pay this cost?

  If the Reserve Bank of India has the information and can provide it to you it will, within 30 days of its receiving the application along with appropriate fees, communicate to you the cost of providing the information as prescribed under Section 7(1) of Right to Information Act.

Do I have a right to appeal?

Under the Right to Information Act, 2005 you have the right to appeal if you are not satisfied with the information provided by the Reserve Bank or its decision not to provide the information requested.

Who should I address my appeal to?

You can address the appeal to:

1) Smt. Charulatha S. Kar
Executive Director
(First Appellate Authority)
Reserve Bank of India,
16^th Floor, Central Office Building,
Shahid Bhagat Singh Marg,
Fort, Mumbai – 400 001.
Email ID -
Phone:

2) Shri Vivek Deep
Executive Director
(Alternate Appellate Authority)
Reserve Bank of India,
17^th Floor, Central Office Building,
Shahid Bhagat Singh Marg,
Mumbai – 400 001.
Email ID - edvd@rbi.org.in
Phone: 022-2261 4228

Citizens can also submit their First Appeal for RTI requests submitted through online portal by accessing the link https://rtionline.gov.in and upon submission of the First Appeal the requester gets the registration number and can track the status of the appeal.