New Delhi: The balance sheet of India's banking sector regulator and currency manager, the Reserve Bank of India, increased from Rs 61.9 lakh crore in FY 2021-22 to nearly Rs 63.45 lakh crore in FY 2022-23, showed the latest official data. In its annual report for the last financial year, the Reserve Bank showed that the size of the balance sheet increased by more than 1.54 lakh crore or 2.5 per cent in the last financial year over the preceding financial year.
The Reserve Bank said that the increase on the asset side was due to a rise in foreign investments, gold and loans and advances. While foreign investment went up by 2.31 per cent, gold and gold deposits jumped by 15.30 per cent and loans and advances sharply increased by 38.33 per cent.
On the other hand, the liability side of the Reserve Bank increased mainly due to an increase in the bank notes issued, revaluation of accounts and other liabilities. The data showed that the value of notes issued increased by 7.81 per cent, revaluation of accounts went up by 20.5 per cent, but other liabilities of the Reserve Bank jumped by nearly 80% in the last financial year.
Assets of the Reserve Bank
While gold deposits of the Banking Department of the RBI increased from nearly Rs 1.97 lakh crore in 2021-22 to nearly Rs 2.31 lakh crore in the FY 2022-23, foreign investment of the Banking Department declined from Rs 11.41 lakh crore to Rs 10.09 lakh crore. Similarly, domestic investment of the RBI’s Banking Department declined from nearly Rs 14.89 lakh crore in FY 2021-22 to Rs 14.06 lakh crore in the last financial year.
During the same period, the loans and advances of the Banking Department of the Reserve Bank increased from Rs 2.09 lakh crore to Rs 2.89 lakh crore in the last fiscal. While other assets held by the Banking Department of the RBI increased from nearly Rs 47,000 crore to over 59,000 crores during the same period.
Assets of RBI's Issue Department
Gold assets held by the Issue Department of the RBI increased from Rs 1.25 lakh crore in FY 2021-22 to nearly Rs 1.41 lakh crore. Similarly, foreign investments of the Issue Department of the Reserve Bank increased from 29.8 lakh crore in FY 2021-22 to over Rs 32 lakh crore in FY 2022-23.
Liabilities of the Reserve Bank
The Reserve Bank, which was set up during the British Raj under the Reserve Bank of India Act of 1934 to manage the currency and reserves of the Government of India, maintains its assets and liabilities through two departments – the Banking Department and the Issue Department.
While the deposit liabilities of the Banking Department of the RBI declined from nearly Rs 17.34 lakh crore in FY 2021-22 to Rs 13.54 lakh crore in the last financial year, liabilities of the RBI on account of contingency fund increased from Rs 3.11 lakh crore to Rs 3.51 lakh crore. Similarly, RBI’s Banking Department’s liabilities on account of the revaluation of accounts increased from nearly Rs 9.35 lakh crore to over Rs 11.26 lakh crore. While other liabilities of the RBI’s Banking Department increased from over Rs 75,000 crore in FY 2021-22 to over Rs 1.35 lakh crore.
Liabilities of the RBI's Issue Department
RBI’s Issue Department discharges the bank's function as a currency manager of the Government of India. The Issue Department is responsible for issuing currency notes in the country, it decides their denominations such as bank notes of Rs 5, Rs 10, Rs 20, Rs 50, Rs 100, Rs 200 and Rs 500 and it also provides sovereign backing to these bills of notes.
The decision to issue a Rs 2,000 banknote and its withdrawal in May 2023 was taken and implemented by the RBI’s Issue Department. As per the latest data, the liabilities of the Issue Department on account of the bank notes issued increased from nearly Rs 31.06 lakh crore in FY 2021-22 to over Rs 33.48 lakh crore in FY 2022-23.
