Communication Policy

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 a statutory annual publication of the Bank under Section 36(2) of the Banking Regulation Act, 1949. It provides an overview of developments in the global banking sector while reviewing the performance of Indian banking and non-banking sector. The report is generally released in November /December every year.

iii) Report on Currency and Finance

This is a theme-based annual publication of the Bank providing comprehensive research work on contemporary and relevant economic issues concerning the Indian economy.

iv) 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.

v) 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.

vi) Payment System Report

This Report provides an overview of the payment systems in India, including its legal basis, role and functions of the Board for Regulation and Supervision of Payment and Settlement Systems (BPSS). Current payment system landscape and its statistics are also discussed in the Report. This Report also touches upon the major regulatory developments related to Indian payment systems. A special section is provided for UPI and its enhancement, where growth in UPI transactions including UPI P2P and P2M, as well as other products related to UPI like UPI Lite, UPI IPO, etc are elaborately discussed. Last five-years’ trend in volume and value of transactions of different payment systems, cross border payments, and inward and outward remittances to and from India are also discussed in the Report. Major global trends in payment systems are also provided in this Report.

vii) State Finances: A Study of Budgets

“State Finances: A Study of Budgets”, an annual publication of the Reserve Bank of India, presents an assessment of the fiscal positions of all State Governments and Union Territories with legislatures. Each edition contains a dedicated thematic chapter that investigates a contemporary issue in State finances. The study contains an extensive dataset compiled from budget documents of the States. Along with this study the e-States Database is released on the RBI website which provides time-series data on State finances in spreadsheet format from 1990-91 onwards.

viii) Report on Municipal Finances

As part of the RBI's commitment to providing high-quality data for policy and research, the RBI initiated thematic biennial reports on finances of local bodies in 2022. This report compiles and analyses budgetary data from over 90 per cent of municipal corporations in India, thereby providing an in-depth analysis of the fiscal position of urban local bodies.

ix) Finances of Panchayati Raj Institutions

This biennial report significantly advances the availability of local body data by providing the first comprehensive, all-India assessment of the finances of nearly 2.6 lakh gram panchayats. By offering a state-level analysis of the finances of Panchayati Raj Institutions, this report addresses a long-standing data gap on rural local bodies in India.

x) Reserve Bank of India Bulletin and its Weekly Statistical Supplement

The Reserve Bank of India Bulletin, published monthly, contains speeches of top management, articles and key current statistics. The State of the Economy article published in the Bulletin provides a comprehensive monthly review of the economy in addition to analytical articles presenting the view of the research staff. The current statistics section provides data on key indicators, covering financial markets, money and banking, prices, government accounts and treasury bills, external sector and payment system indicators.

The Monetary Policy Statements and the major reports released by the Bank, viz. the Annual Report, Report on Trend and Progress of Banking in India and Financial Stability Report are issued as supplements to this monthly publication. The Monetary Policy Report is also published as part of the Bulletin.

The weekly statistical supplement (WSS) to the Monthly RBI Bulletin is a high frequency data dissemination source and publishes information on 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.

Major data publications of the Bank include:

i) Handbook of Statistics on Indian States

A comprehensive handbook containing state-wise statistics on socio-demographics, health, state domestic product, agriculture, environment, price and wages, industry, infrastructure, banking and fiscal indicators.

ii) Handbook of Statistics on Indian Economy

This document comprises dataset on a longer time horizon. It is a real-time on-line version (available on web-portal Database of Indian Economy (DBIE) (data.rbi.org.in). The publication provides time-series data (annual /quarterly /monthly / fortnightly / weekly/daily) pertaining to a broad spectrum of economic variables pertaining to data on national income, output and prices, money and banking, financial markets, public finance, trade and balance of payments, currency and coinage and socio-economic indicators.

iii) Basic Statistical Returns

The Basic Statistical Return (BSR) publications consists of quarterly releases of (a) bank credit classified according to occupation/activity and organisational sector of the borrower, type of account, and interest rates (BSR-1); (b) ownership, maturity pattern of bank deposits, size of deposits, interest rate bucket wise deposits, age wise distribution of deposits as well as employment with SCBs (BSR-2); and (c) tables relating to spatial distribution of deposits and credit. Data pertaining to RRBs is incorporated only at annual basis for the quarter ending March under the above surveys.

iv) Statistical Tables Relating to Banks in India

The publication presents bank-wise information on major items of liabilities and assets along with their maturity profile; income and expenses; select financial ratios, number of employees and details of priority sector advances for scheduled commercial banks (excluding regional rural banks). In addition, capital to risk weighted asset ratios (CRARs), non-performing assets (NPAs), exposure to sensitive sectors, contingent liabilities and unclaimed deposits are included. State wise distribution of consolidated balance sheet of rural co-operative banks are also presented.

v) External Sector Statistics

These include the quarterly release of India’s Balance of Payments (BoP) statistics, External Debt statistics for the March-end and June-end quarters, a monthly press release on India’s international trade in services, and a quarterly press release on India’s trade in invisibles.

vi) Surveys

a. Regular:

The Bank conducts the following regular quick surveys, the results of which are presented to the MPC and are subsequently released in the public domain:

1. Industrial outlook survey (IOS) of manufacturing sector – quarterly

2. Order book, inventory and capacity utilisation survey (OBICUS) of manufacturing sector – quarterly

3. Services and Infrastructure outlook survey (SIOS) – quarterly

4. Bank Lending Survey (BLS)-quarterly

5. Inflation expectations survey of households (IESH) – bi-monthly

6. Consumer Confidence Survey (CCS) – bi-monthly

7. Rural Consumer Confidence Survey (RCCS)- bi-monthly

8. Survey of professional forecasters (SPF) – bi-monthly

The results of these surveys are released immediately after the release of resolution of the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC). Unit level data of the household surveys (i.e., IESH and CCS) are also released to promote research.

b. Periodic:

1. Cross-border Remittances Survey- The results of the remittances survey are published in the RBI monthly bulletin in the form of a bulletin article. 

i) RBI Occasional Papers

The Reserve Bank of India Occasional Papers (RBIOP) is the official research journal of the Reserve Bank of India, which provides a forum for publication of research work done by the RBI Staff, independently and/or in collaboration with independent researchers outside the Bank. The journal is dedicated to publishing peer-reviewed, high-quality, analytical and empirical research work on a broad range of issues of interest to a large audience, including policymakers and academics. The journal is published bi-annually as an open-access journal on the Bank’s website.

ii) RBI Working Papers

The RBI Working Papers series (RBIWPS), introduced in March 2011, presents research in progress of the staff members of RBI and at times also those of external co-authors when the research is jointly undertaken. These papers are peer reviewed and are disseminated to elicit feedback and comments from informed researchers and further debate.

iii) Development Research Group (DRG) Studies

DRG studies are the outcome of collaborative efforts between experts from outside the Bank and the researchers within the Bank. These studies are released for wider circulation with a view to generating constructive discussion among the professional economists and policy makers.

iv) Mint Street Memos

Mint Street Memos (MSM) is a series of documents that are in the form of brief reports and analysis on contemporary topics, prepared by the staff of RBI and Centre for Advanced Financial Research and Learning (CAFRAL), or drawn from one of the recent publications of the Bank.

1. Monetary Policy Statement;

2. MPC minutes;

3. Top Management Speeches/ Interviews;

4. Working Group /Committee Reports;

5. Technical/Discussion Papers;

6. Manuals;

7. Vision Documents;

8. Memorial Lectures;

9. Monetary and Credit Information Review – monthly;

10. Half Yearly Report on Management of Foreign Exchange Reserves;

11. Official press releases/ notifications, articles; and

12. Films, videos, comic books and other content on public awareness.

The Bank issues press releases relating to its operations through its web-site for use by market participants, wire agencies and other sections of media. Its daily press release on money market operations of the previous day gives a summary position of liquidity in the system to market participants. The results of the Liquidity Adjustment Facility (LAF) and other liquidity operations are posted on the website on the same day.

The Database on Indian Economy (DBIE) is the Reserve Bank of India’s flagship data dissemination platform, offering comprehensive macroeconomic and financial statistics to a broad user base. Designed as a web-based interactive portal, DBIE facilitates real-time access to pre-formatted statistical reports and allows users to create customized data views through intuitive query facilities. Over time, the portal has evolved from a static repository into a dynamic platform hosting over 60,000 publicly accessible data series. These cover diverse sectors such as monetary policy, financial markets, corporate performance, and external sector developments, enabling researchers, analysts, and policymakers to track economic trends and assess policy impacts easily. The DBIE is the backbone for many of the Bank’s regular statistical publications.

To further enhance accessibility and user engagement, the Reserve Bank launched the RBIDATA mobile application—a companion to the DBIE portal that brings data to users’ fingertips. The user-friendly app aligns with the Bank’s vision of providing data as a public good, accessible anytime and anywhere. The RBIDATA app offers over 11,000 curated data series from the DBIE, displayed in an intuitive and visually engaging format. The app caters to seasoned economists, financial market participants, students, academicians, and the general public with features like daily data updates, easy navigation, and downloadable outputs. By embracing digital innovation, the RBI positions itself among global central bank data dissemination leaders.