The Reserve Bank’s annual publication, Statistical Tables Relating to Banks in India, provides keyinformation on banks. It covers bank-wise and bank group-wise information on major items such as liabilitiesand assets, income and expenses, non-performing assets, financial ratios, spatial distribution of offices,number of employees and details of priority sector advances. It also provides bank group-wise monthly dataon some of the major items such as aggregate deposits, liabilities to the banking system, assets with thebanking system, investments, bank credit, and, sector-wise and industry-wise gross bank credit.

This publication had started prior to the establishment of the Reserve Bank of India. The first issuewas brought out by the then Department of Statistics, Government of India in 1915 which covered data for1914 and was brought out under the guidance of Mr. G. Findlay Shirras, the then Director of Statistics,Government of India. It is worth mentioning that Late Professor P. R. Brahmananda dedicated his bookMoney, Income, Prices in 19th Century India, published in 2001, to Mr. G. Findlay Shirras, among others. Inorder to commemorate the origin of this publication, the cover page of the first issue brought out in 1915 isreproduced in this volume.

The work relating to the publication was transferred to the Reserve Bank of India in 1939. The lastissue, which incidentally was also the 25th issue, of the publication brought out by the Government of Indiawas in 1941, with data pertaining to 1938. The first issue under the aegis of the Reserve Bank of India wasbrought out in 1941, with data pertaining to 1939 and 1940. The cover page of the last issue brought out bythe Government of India and ‘Prefatory Note’ in the first issue brought out by the Reserve Bank of India asreproduced in Statistical Tables Relating to Banks in India 2005-06 are also given in this volume.

This is the 64th volume of the publication by the Reserve Bank of India. If we count volumes publishedby the then Department of Statistics, Government of India, then this could be the 89th volume, marking thelong history of continuity of this publication.

This publication has continued for nearly a century underscores its relevance. It is also a tribute tothe efforts and dedication of concerned officials first in the Government of India and now in the ReserveBank of India. In this tradition, this volume has been brought under the guidance of Dr. A. M. Pedgaonkar,Principal Adviser, and Dr. Balwant Singh, Adviser, DSIM.

I am sure, as in its glorious past, the current volume would prove to be a valuable source of informationon Indian banks.

The staff team for this publication is headed by Shri V. Bahuguna, Director, with able support fromDr. N. K. Unnikrishnan, Assistant Adviser, Shri Bhaskar Birajdar, Research Officer and Smt. Shobha A.Parab, Assistant Manager. They were assisted by Smt. F. K. Kazi, Assistant Manager, and Smt. P. Vanmali,Data Processing Assistant.

I dedicate this volume to those, past and present, who contributed to its rich tradition.

Deepak Mohanty
Executive Director

November 18, 2009