Reserve Bank of India. Report of the Fifth Annual General Meeting of Shareholders

In accordance with section 14 of the Reserve Bank of India Act 1934 the Central Board of Directors presents herewith to the Shareholders the Annual Report and the Accounts of the Bank for the year ended the 31st December 1939. [...] Early in the year the resources of the Exchange Equalisation Fund were strengthened by the transfer of £200 million worth of gold from the Bank of England and this was followed by the re-valuation of the Bank's gold stocks under the Currency and Bank NotesAct of 1939. [...] Despite this increase in the note issue the cash in the Bank during the last four months of 1939 was considerably below the level of the corresponding period of the previous year. [...] In the earlier months of the year the balance of trade in merchandise was generally more favourable than during the corresponding months of the previous year and with the outbreak of the war the relative decline in imports improved it further. [...] Thereafter owing to the rapid expansion in advances to meet the increased demand for finance from the commodity markets the stock exchange and the silver market as a result of the war deposits showed an almost continuous increase and by the end of the year the total demand and time liabilities amounted to Rs.251.33 crores which were the highest recorded so far and which exceeded the correspondi