RBI@100: RBI unveils ambitious reform agenda for centenary celebrations in 2035, charts out 14-point action plan

The Reserve Bank of India has drawn up a reform agenda to be achieved on its centenary, a decade down the line as it aspires to be a role model for the central banks in the developing world. “As the Reserve Bank approaches its centenary year, RBI@100, it will gear up even more to remain future-ready for India’s fast-growing economy. It will take steps to enhance India’s global footprint,” Governor Shaktikanta Das said Friday.

The RBI has charted out a 14-point action plan in the run-up to the centenary year in 2035. The plan includes positioning itself as the leader of the Global South in terms of monetary policy and liquidity management, readying three to five Indian banks among the top 100 global banks in terms of size and operations, making its supervision a global model, universalisation of India’s digital payment systems, deepening financial inclusion and internationalisation of rupee.

The RBI commenced operations in Kolkata on April 1, 1935.

“For our journey during the next decade, we have drawn up strategies consisting of policy actions towards positioning the Reserve Bank as a model central bank of the global south,” Das said.

He said that the action plan is not a static document and will evolve over time in sync with global development. “Our endeavour will be to continually update it as may be required,” he said.The central bank said it would work on capital account liberalisation and internationalisation of the rupee by increasing the availability of the local currency to non-residents for facilitating cross-border transactions in the rupee and accessibility of rupee accounts to Persons Resident Outside India (PROIs).It would also focus on boosting credit availability in the system through a series of interventions, dealing with climate change and addressing the challenges due to the adoption of Artificial Intelligence/Machine Learning (AI/ML), financial sector cloud infrastructure and safeguarding users against payment-related frauds.