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Government & Bank Accounts — RBI Master Directions

Government banking, agency banks & related accounts. We track 176 RBI documents in this family, anchored by 32 consolidated Master Direction(s) / Master Circular(s). Every entry links to its official page on rbi.org.in.

Last rebuilt: 18 Jun 2026, 01:11 IST
Latest tracked circular: RBI FY 2025-26
New in ~last 90 days: 2 circulars
Mapped this RBI financial year (FY 2026-27): 0 circulars
176
RBI documents in family
32
Master Direction / Circular anchors
0
Mapped this RBI FY (FY 2026-27)

About this family — the DGBA lineage

The Reserve Bank’s Department of Government and Bank Accounts (DGBA) runs the RBI’s role as banker to the central and state governments and to banks — government receipts and payments, the agency-bank arrangement and agency commission, currency-chest and remittance accounting, and related settlement accounts. Reference numbers beginning DGBA mark documents from this department. The Government’s market borrowing programme is managed under Internal Debt Management, and physical-cash logistics under Currency Management. This is our plain-English overview; every document below links to its official page on rbi.org.in — we never reproduce RBI text verbatim. under the editorial review of Vikram Jain. Independent platform, not affiliated with the Reserve Bank of India.

What this family governs

In plain English: the Department of Government & Bank Accounts (DGBA) governs the RBI’s role as banker to the central and state governments — how government receipts and payments are handled, how banks are appointed as agency banks to do that business, and how they are paid agency commission for it. These circulars set the plumbing of government banking, rather than prudential or lending rules for banks (those sit under Department of Regulation) or the issuance of government securities (which sits under Internal Debt Management).
Two example focus areas (illustrative, drawn from common RBI government-banking themes):
Focus areas are our plain-English summary of typical themes, not a quote from any RBI document; every tracked document below links to its official page on rbi.org.in. under the editorial review of Vikram Jain.
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How to find the governing Master Direction for a circular

A quick four-step method to trace any Government & Bank Accounts circular back to its consolidated RBI rulebook.

  1. Read the RBI reference number
    Every RBI circular carries a reference number such as RBI/2023-24/108 with a department token such as DGBA. The letters before the first slash identify the issuing department.
  2. Match the department code to its family
    That department token maps to the Government & Bank Accounts family on this page. Legacy codes are folded into their modern department, so even older circulars resolve to the right rulebook.
  3. Open the consolidated Master Direction anchor
    In the Master Direction & Master Circular anchors list below, pick the consolidated rulebook for this family — it is the living document the individual circular amends or sits under.
  4. Verify on the official RBI source
    Follow the rbi.org.in link on the anchor or the circular to confirm the current text on the Reserve Bank's own website. BankPulse never reproduces RBI text verbatim.

Master Direction & Master Circular anchors

Latest circulars in this family

The 20 most recent RBI notifications we track in this family (newest first). Each links to its official page on rbi.org.in.

Key dataSee the live numbers behind this family: Credit & Deposit Growth — bank credit & deposit growth trends, updated from official RBI data. Related live data: Bank Health Scores.
Key termsPlain-English definitions of core terms in this family — see the full Indian banking glossary. Scheduled Commercial Bank (SCB) · Master Direction · Statutory Liquidity Ratio (SLR)

Government & Bank Accounts — frequently asked questions

What does the RBI Government & Bank Accounts family cover?
Government banking, agency banks & related accounts. On BankPulse this family groups 176 RBI documents we track, anchored by 32 consolidated Master Directions / Master Circulars, grouped by the RBI issuing-department code DGBA.
Where can I find the official RBI Master Directions for Government & Bank Accounts?
Every entry on this page links directly to its official notification on rbi.org.in — we never reproduce RBI text verbatim. Start with the Master Direction / Master Circular anchors listed above for the consolidated rulebook, or browse the 176 tracked circulars in this family. Methodology reviewed by Vikram Jain; BankPulse is an independent platform, not affiliated with the Reserve Bank of India.
Which RBI department handles government banking?
Government banking in India is handled by the Reserve Bank's Department of Government and Bank Accounts (DGBA). It runs the RBI's role as banker to the central and state governments and to banks — government receipts and payments, the agency-bank arrangement under which commercial banks conduct government business, the agency commission paid for it, and related currency-chest and settlement accounting. The government's market borrowing programme is managed separately under Internal Debt Management. Methodology reviewed by Vikram Jain; BankPulse is an independent platform, not affiliated with the Reserve Bank of India.
What is the Ways and Means Advances (WMA) facility?
Ways and Means Advances (WMA) are temporary, short-term loans the Reserve Bank gives the central and state governments to bridge mismatches between their receipts and payments, under the RBI's role as banker to government operated through the Department of Government and Bank Accounts. WMA is meant only to smooth day-to-day cash flow, not to finance the budget deficit: each advance must be repaid within a few months, the RBI fixes WMA limits for the Centre and for each state from time to time, and interest is charged broadly at the repo rate. When a government overshoots its WMA limit it moves to a higher-cost overdraft, which signals fiscal stress and is capped in both size and number of days. WMA therefore differs from the government's market borrowing programme — the issue of dated securities and Treasury Bills — which is managed separately under Internal Debt Management. The exact limits and terms are revised periodically and are set out in the circulars linked on this page. This is general information, not advice. Methodology reviewed by Vikram Jain; BankPulse is an independent platform, not affiliated with the Reserve Bank of India.
Download this family as data: crosswalk-government-bank-accounts.csv — a machine-readable CSV mapping every tracked Government & Bank Accounts circular (reference + title) to its parent Master Direction family and official rbi.org.in source. See also the crosswalk families JSON and the per-family CSV index.

← Back to the full RBI Master Direction Crosswalk

How this map is built: documents are grouped by the issuing-department code in each RBI reference number. Every entry links to its official page on rbi.org.in — we never reproduce RBI text verbatim. Methodology reviewed by Vikram Jain. Independent platform, not affiliated with the Reserve Bank of India.