Under the Minimum Reserve System followed in India since 1957, the Reserve Bank must maintain a minimum reserve of
- A.Two hundred crore rupees, of which one hundred and fifteen crore is in gold
- B.One hundred crore rupees, entirely in gold
- C.Five hundred crore rupees, entirely in foreign securities
- D.One thousand crore rupees in government bonds
Correct answer
Explanation
The correct answer is A, two hundred crore rupees, of which one hundred and fifteen crore is in gold. Under the Minimum Reserve System, adopted in 1957 in place of the earlier proportional reserve system, the Reserve Bank has to hold assets worth at least two hundred crore rupees against the notes it issues, of which gold must account for one hundred and fifteen crore and the remaining eighty-five crore is held in foreign securities. Beyond that minimum the Bank may issue notes according to the needs of the economy.
Option B understates both the amount and the composition and ignores the foreign securities component. Options C and D invent figures and assets that have no place in the system; government bonds of the Indian government are not what the minimum reserve is defined in. The point of the change in 1957 was to free note issue from a fixed proportion of gold backing so that currency could grow with production and trade, and that reasoning is itself sometimes asked as a statement question.
Read the full article: Money and Banking in India: RBI, Supply and Policy
Practice Questions
View allThe Reserve Bank of India began its operations on which date?
- A.1 April 1935
- B.1 January 1949
- C.1 July 1955
- D.19 July 1969
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The Reserve Bank of India was constituted under the Reserve Bank of India Act of 1934, on the recommendation of the Hilton Young Commission, and started functioning on 1 April 1935 with its central office at Calcutta, which was shifted permanently to Bombay in 1937.
Read the full explanation →In the measurement of money supply in India, which aggregate is known as broad money?
- A.M0
- B.M1
- C.M3
- D.M4
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M3 is M1 plus time deposits with banks, and it is called broad money or the aggregate monetary resource. It is the measure the Reserve Bank follows most closely because it captures both spendable balances and funds held for a fixed term.
Read the full explanation →The repo rate is the rate of interest at which
- A.Commercial banks lend to their prime customers
- B.The Reserve Bank lends short-term funds to banks against government securities
- C.The Reserve Bank borrows surplus funds from commercial banks
- D.Banks pay interest on savings deposits
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In a repurchase or repo transaction a bank sells government paper to the Reserve Bank and agrees to buy it back shortly afterwards at a slightly higher price; the difference works out as interest at the repo rate.
Read the full explanation →How many commercial banks were nationalised in India in the first round of bank nationalisation in July 1969?
- A.Six
- B.Twelve
- C.Fourteen
- D.Twenty
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On 19 July 1969 the government nationalised fourteen of the largest commercial banks in the country, the aim being to take banking to rural areas, direct credit to agriculture and small industry, and end the concentration of bank funds in a few business houses.
Read the full explanation →In India, the one rupee note is issued by
- A.The Reserve Bank of India
- B.The State Bank of India
- C.The Government of India
- D.The Security Printing and Minting Corporation
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The one rupee note and all coins are issued by the Government of India through the Ministry of Finance, and the one rupee note carries the signature of the Finance Secretary rather than that of the Governor of the Reserve Bank.
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