It is not the history of Reserve Bank of India (RBI), but a retrospective, a chronicle of events as they happened since its inception in 1935. An effort to relive the past, the book is written with a sense of nostalgia. And with a bit of pride as well. As the central bank of the country, RBI performs not only traditional banking functions, like monetary and currency managements -- serving as a banker to the government and as a banker to banks, but also has played a pioneering role in diverse activities, specially in the area of rural finance, economic development, and financial inclusion.

The book -- a part of the RBI"s Platinum Jubilee celebrations -- is an attempt to put central banking in the context of socio-political developments of the day: both at home from technology to development, the book chronicles central banking events and around the world. It highlights how the Reserve Bank has pioneered many an experiment in the laboratory that was India; how it has always tried to dovetail banking and finance to subserve the developmental needs of the country; and how, with its activism and policy interventions, it has crafted schemes for the benefit of the poor and the less privileged. Being always at the forefront of moulding public policy and economic thought, the RBI"s story, in some ways, is the story of finance and banking. Today, when RBI -- as India"s central bank -- seeks to steer the country"s banking sector into a globalized world, it has not lost sight of the common man"s concerns.

Covering its wide-ranging activities: from international finance to regulation and supervision, from technology to development, the book chronicles central banking events as they unfolded in India during the last 75 years. Together with visuals and vignettes, Mint Road Milestones: RBI 75 not only offers glimpses of the Bank"s eventful past and the road it has traversed, but also brings alive the spirit of one of the oldest central banks of the developing world.