The Reserve Bank has formulated broad internal guidelines and operational practices for communication from the perspective of the organisation and goals of communication. These are:

• • The Directors of the Central Board of the Reserve Bank do not communicate or divulge any matter or information, which may come to their knowledge as members of the Central Board or its Committees.
  • The Governor and the Deputy Governor in charge of monetary policy are the only spokespersons on issues relating to monetary and exchange rate policy;
  • Deputy Governors are the spokespersons in their respective areas of responsibility;
  • Executive Directors and Heads of Departments speak in their respective domain with explicit authority from the Governor/Deputy Governors;
  • Regional Directors clarify local issues;
  • Ombudsmen speak on local grievance redressal issues;
  • The head of the Department of Communication (DoC) is the general spokesperson of the Reserve Bank;
  • All press releases except those relating to regional matters – which are rare – are centrally issued by the Department of Communication;
  • All information releases – in print or digital form – are placed in public domain simultaneously.

Responsibility for Communication

Good external communication assumes intensive internal coordination between different departments/offices and the DoC, which is the nodal department in RBI for external communication. Media persons and others having queries or seeking clarification connect with the DoC.

Review

i) Annual Report
The Annual Report of the Reserve Bank is a statutory publication released within two months from the close of annual accounts. It is a report by the Central Board on the state of the economy, the working of the Bank during the year and the balance sheet of the Reserve Bank. It also presents an assessment of the Indian economy and its prospects in the period ahead.

ii) Report on Trend and Progress of Banking in India
This is also a statutory annual publication of the Bank, which reviews the policies for and performance of the financial sector. The publication covers the data from April to March and is generally released around November/December every year.

iii) Monetary Policy Report
It is a bi-annual statutory publication of the Bank, generally released in April and October. It gives the macroeconomic outlook and forecasts on growth and inflation. It also covers the balance of risks, prices and costs, financial market and liquidity conditions and the developments in external global environment.

iv) Financial Stability Report
It is a bi-annual Report that is being published since Global financial crisis and its aftermath, i.e., March 2010 onwards. It provides an assessment of stability of India’s financial system; reviews the nature, magnitude and implications of risks; results of stress tests and resilience; provides key signal for pre-emptive policy responses and mentions ways for development and regulation of the financial sector.

v) State Finances: A Study of Budgets
A thematically dedicated release, this publication provides a comprehensive analytical assessment of the finances of all State Governments. Consolidated data of all State Governments are analysed in addition to State-wise analysis to draw policy implications. It contains an analysis of fiscal position at the sub-national level, assessment of risks, progress on the targets under the Fiscal Responsibility and Budget Management (FRBM) Act, 2003. It is widely referred by Central/State governments, international institutions such as IMF, and academicians.

vi) Reserve Bank of India Bulletin and its Weekly Statistical Supplement
The monthly RBI Bulletin publishes the Monetary Policy Statements, Top management speeches, research articles, current statistics on key monetary and financial indicators, first data release on forex market intervention and other areas that may be of topical interest. Other useful inclusions in the Bulletin are important press releases and circulars issued by different departments of the Reserve Bank and data relating to economy, finance and banking.

Major reports released by the Bank, including the Annual Report and the Report on Trend and Progress of Banking in India are issued as supplements to this monthly publication.

The weekly statistical supplement (WSS) to the Monthly RBI Bulletin is a premier high frequency data dissemination source and publishes information like major items of the RBI balance sheet, reserve position, consolidated balance sheet of scheduled commercial banks, monetary and financial market indicators and market borrowings of the Government. The document is usually released in the evening of every Friday.

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Communication is a key element in functioning of modern central banks, who are placing greater emphasis on transparency and accountability. The increasing preference for a collegial method of monetary policy decision making and thrust on financial stability have laid more emphasis on structured policies/strategies for communication in the realm of central banking.

The Reserve Bank’s communication policy follows the guiding principles of relevance, transparency, clarity, comprehensiveness and timeliness: it strives to continuously improve public understanding of developments in the multiple domains under its ambit.

The framework of central banking policy in India has evolved around its objectives specified under the Reserve Bank of India Act, 1934, viz. “to regulate the issue of Bank notes and keeping of reserves with a view to securing monetary stability in India and generally to operate the currency and credit system of the country to its advantage; and to operate a modern monetary policy framework to meet the challenge of an increasingly complex economy, where the primary objective is to maintain price stability while keeping in mind the objective of growth.”

Consistent with the above, the Reserve Bank’s macroeconomic and monetary policy has focussed on maintaining price stability, ensuring adequate flow of credit to sustain the growth momentum, and securing financial stability. The financial stability objective are enabled by the powers vested with it for regulation and supervision of the Indian financial system and its constituents, the money, debt and foreign exchange segments of the financial markets and the country’s payment and settlement system support. These are augmented by the critical functions relating to maintenance of foreign exchange reserves and the role as the lender of last resort. The Reserve Bank pursues its core function of issuance of bank notes and currency management as well as its agency functions such as management of public debt, banker to Government (Centre and States) and banker to the banking system, including regulation of bank reserves. As a full-service central bank, it also propels the development and consolidation of the country’s financial system and supports inclusive growth.

The Reserve Bank’s approach is to communicate its policy stance and its assessment of the evolving situation by providing rationale as well as supporting information and analysis to all stakeholders.

In its medium-term Vision Statement for 2019-22, termed as ‘Utkarsh 2022’, the Reserve Bank has set out for itself the following mutually reinforcing

The Reserve Bank explains the monetary policy measures and stance with the rationale, information and analysis to enable market participants and other stakeholders to provide clarity about its assessment of the evolving situation. The Reserve Bank of India Act, 1934 was amended in 2016 to provide statutory basis for a monetary policy framework, the MPC and the inflation target to be set by the Government of India, in consultation with the Reserve Bank, once in every five years.

The monetary policy framework aims at (a) setting the policy (repo) rate based on an assessment of the current and evolving macroeconomic situation and, (b) modulation of liquidity conditions on a day-to-day basis through appropriate actions to anchor money market rates. The operating framework responds to the evolving monetary and financial market conditions, consistent with the monetary policy stance. The Reserve Bank also holds pre-policy consultations with economists, bankers, industry groups and other stakeholders to ascertain their views on aggregate / sector-specific assessments and their policy expectations.

The resolution of the MPC is released on the Bank’s website and other communication channels, followed by a press conference that is broadcast live on various public media platforms. In the spirit of transparency, the data used in monetary policy formulation are put in public domain after the release of the MPC resolution.