RBI story: 90 and going strong

As the Reserve Bank celebrates its 90th birthday, here's a look at how different the pitch has been for different governors to bat on since economic liberalisation. Part 1 of a two-part series

Happy Birthday, Reserve Bank of India.

The Indian central bank turns 90 today. The world's other nonagenarian central banks include the Central bank of Argentina and Bank of Canada - both born in 1935.

Of course, the story of central banking goes back to the 17th century. In 1668, the Swedish Riksbank was set up as a joint stock bank, chartered to lend government funds and act as a clearing house for commerce. This marked the birth of central banking.

A few decades later, in 1694, the Bank of England was founded, also as a joint stock company, to purchase government debt. In 1800, Napoleon Bonaparte set up Banque de France to stabilise the currency after the hyperinflation of paper money during the French Revolution. The Bank of Finland was established in 1812 soon after Russia took over Finland from Sweden to become a grand duchy.

The US Federal Reserve made its appearance in 1913 - seven years after the Swiss National Bank. In Asia, while the Bank of Japan was founded in 1882, the People's Bank of China is 13 years younger than the RBI. Finally, the current European Central Bank was set up in 1998 to launch the Euro, a decade after the decision was taken to build an economic and monetary union.

The activities of central banking have been evolving over centuries. For instance, before the First World War broke out in 1914, central banks didn't attach great importance to maintaining the domestic economy's stability. The war was the trigger for concerns about employment, real activity, and the price level. After the Great Depression, again, the contours of central banking changed. The Fed was made subservient to the Treasury; it regained its independence from the Treasury in 1951.

Let's turn our focus back on the birthday boy - the RBI.

Since its creation on April 1, 1935, 25 governors have been in the driver's seat.