the currency and credit system of the country to its advantage ”. thus, unlike the current trend in many countries, there is no explicit mandate for price - stability or formal inflation targeting, but the mandate appears to be similar to that of the federal reserve of the usa. the twin objectives of monetary policy in india have evolved over the years as those of maintaining price stability and ensuring adequate flow of credit to facilitate the growth process. the relative emphasis between the twin objectives is modulated as per the prevailing circumstances and is articulated in the policy statements. consideration of macro - economic and financial stability is also subsumed in the mandate. the rbi is also entrusted with the management of foreign exchange reserves ( which include gold holding also ), which are reflected in its balance sheet. while rbi is essentially a monetary authority, its founding statute mandates it to be the manager of public debt of the government of india and banker to the government. the function of regulating and supervising of banks has been assigned to the rbi by a separate legislation enacted in 1949, while the regulation of non - banking finance companies ( nbfcs ) has been entrusted to it through an amendment to the rbi act. the powers for regulation of money markets, government securities market, forex market and gold are derived from the rbi act and the regulation explicitly entrusted through government notifications under the securities contracts ( regulation ) act. the regulation of current and capital account transactions of the external sector was assigned to the rbi under another statute in 1999, replacing an earlier one in 1973. in addition to the issuance of currency, the rbi is also entrusted with the responsibilities relating to distribution of coins. the rbi has been assigned some responsibilities in several statutory bodies such as public sector banks, development finance institutions governing agriculture, housing and deposit insurance, etc. the reserve bank's affairs are governed by a central board of directors, consisting of fourteen nonexecutive, independent directors nominated by the government, in addition to the governor and up to four deputy governors. besides, one government official is also nominated on the board who participates in the board meetings but can not vote. the rbi has 22 regional offices, mostly in state capitals. rbi is the debt - manager and banker to state governments ( i. e., the provinces constituting the indian federation ). the rbi renders advise to the central and the state governments, particularly in regard to financial sector reforms. in brief, the rbi has been assigned several functions, in addition to monetary management. in performing each

of the functions, the statute as well as the functional content, requires that the rbi exercise varying degrees of autonomy and coordination vis - a - vis the government. the three overarching features governing the relations with the government are autonomy in operations ; harmony in policies ; and coordination in structural transformations. glimpses of the indian economy with only 2. 3 per cent of the world ’ s land area ( seventh - largest country ), india is the second most populous country in the world with a population of 1. 029 billion, which is among the youngest in the world. the proportion of population in the working age group of 15 - 64 years is currently around 62. 9 per cent and is expected to increase to close to 70 per cent by 2026. the “ demographic dividend ” is expected to extend over the next few decades of this millennium. india is unique in pluralism in terms of languages, religions, ideologies and traditions spread over twenty - eight provinces and seven federally governed union territories, each with its distinct identity and socio - cultural ethos. while the constitution of india recognises 22 languages as the official languages, the number of mother tongues in india is reported to be as high as 1, 652. india is well endowed with natural resources, human resources and varied climatic regions, which is reflected in the institutional architecture : uniquely flexible federalism, democracy with universal adult suffrage, and coexistence of public and private sector. a recent but positive feature of the indian economy is the sustained high growth that has been experienced since the 1980s. real gdp growth, which averaged 5. 8 per cent in the 1980s and 1990s, has accelerated to 8. 6 per cent in the period 2003 - 07. in 2006 - 07 ( we measure our financial year from april - march ) real gdp growth was 9. 2 per cent, which was one of the highest growth rates in the world in that year. if the current gdp growth rate of around 9 per cent is maintained, a person can hope to see the standard of living multiplying by almost five times in his lifetime. another noteworthy aspect of the evolution of the indian economy is the structural transformation that has been underway. at the time of independence from british rule in 1947, we were predominantly an agrarian economy with traditional industrial base, mainly plantation and agro dependent. today, agriculture constitutes merely 18. 5 per cent of gdp, although over 60 per cent of our population continues to depend on agriculture in some form for livelihood