RBI Annual Report FY 2025-26 explains DEPR research, DSIM statistics, CIMS, SDMX, AI/ML in data systems, RBI legal developments and Banking Laws Amendment Act 2025.
The RBI Annual Report FY 2025-26 makes it clear that a modern central bank depends not only on monetary policy and regulation, but also on high-quality research, statistics, data infrastructure and legal expertise. During the year, the Department of Economic and Policy Research (DEPR) undertook 102 extensive research projects, while the Department of Statistics and Information Management (DSIM) moved remaining paper/e-mail-based reporting into structured electronic reporting through CIMS, expanded SDMX-based element-level reporting, used AI/ML for forecasting and nowcasting, and applied large language models to unstructured data. The Legal Department, meanwhile, dealt with important legislative developments including the Banking Laws (Amendment) Act, 2025, and identified review of the RBI Act, 1934 as a 2026-27 priority.
1. Why Research, Statistics and Law Matter to RBI
A central bank makes decisions under uncertainty.
To formulate policy, RBI needs reliable information about:
- Inflation
- Growth
- Employment
- Credit
- Monetary aggregates
- Balance of payments
- External debt
- Government finances
- Household savings
- Financial markets
- Banking-sector developments.
But data alone is not enough.
RBI also needs:
Research → interpretation → policy analysis → decision-making
And because RBI operates under a statutory framework:
Law → regulatory authority → policy implementation
Therefore, research, statistics and legal functions form an important part of RBI’s institutional infrastructure.
2. Department of Economic and Policy Research — DEPR
The:
Department of Economic and Policy Research (DEPR)
serves as RBI’s key centre for:
- Policy research
- Analytical inputs for policy decisions
- Topical economic research
- Academic collaboration.
DEPR also publishes several important RBI publications, including:
- Annual Report
- Report on Trend and Progress of Banking in India
- State Finances: A Study of Budgets
- Handbook of Statistics on Indian States.
Exam Memory
DEPR = Research + Policy Analysis
3. RBI’s Research Output in FY 2025-26
DEPR had set a target of:
At least 100 research papers/projects
for FY 2025-26.
It exceeded this target.
During the year:
102 extensive research projects
were undertaken.
These included research published through:
- RBI Bulletin
- Domestic peer-reviewed journals
- International peer-reviewed journals.
4. Major Research Themes
The research agenda covered both traditional central-banking questions and emerging policy issues.
Important areas included:
Inflation
- Multivariate core trend inflation
- Underlying inflation dynamics
Labour and wages
- Wage-inflation relationship
- Wage Phillips Curve
- Use of PLFS data
Monetary policy
- Bank competition
- Monetary transmission
FinTech
- Drivers of FinTech app user experience
- Text-mining approaches
External sector
- External-sector developments
Real economy
- Agricultural and broader real-sector developments
Digital technology
- Emerging technology and financial-sector applications.
5. High-Value Research Titles to Remember
The Annual Report identifies several studies that are especially relevant for examination purposes.
These include:
- Monetary Policy Transmission to Macro Variables in India — using Identified High Frequency Monetary Policy
- Drivers of Gold Demand in Foreign Exchange Reserves: Indian Case
- How does Yield Curve respond to Macroeconomic Data Surprises?
- Impact of US Monetary Policy Announcements on Indian Banking Sector Equity Performance
- New Horizons for Indian Agriculture
- Green Banking Practices in India.
These demonstrate how RBI research connects monetary policy with financial markets, external developments, agriculture and sustainability.
6. Report on Currency and Finance
DEPR was also preparing the:
Report on Currency and Finance (RCF)
with the theme:
“India’s External Sector: Navigating Global Turbulence”
The report was under preparation during FY 2025-26.
This theme is particularly relevant given the Annual Report’s discussion of:
- Trade uncertainty
- Capital flows
- Exchange-rate movements
- Geopolitical risks
- Foreign-exchange reserves.
7. Report on Finances of Panchayati Raj Institutions
Another important publication under preparation was:
Report on Finances of Panchayati Raj Institutions
This reflects RBI’s expanding analytical coverage of sub-national and local-government finances.
8. Research Dissemination Within RBI
Research is not confined to published papers.
DEPR conducted a:
Monthly Seminar Series
covering topics such as:
- Environmental priorities for monetary and financial policy
- Structural transformation
- Human capital
- Trade policy
- Financial stability
- Labour markets
- Inequality
- Monetary-policy frameworks.
The:
DEPR Study Circle
also conducted:
14 online seminars/presentations
during the year.
9. RBI Professorial Chairs
RBI supports academic research through:
RBI Professorial Chairs
During FY 2025-26:
20 RBI Professorial Chairs
were established across research institutes and universities in India.
Research under these chairs covered:
- Inflation forecasting
- Climate finance
- Financial inclusion
- Merchandise trade
- Open-economy macroeconomics.
10. RBI’s Engagement With External Research Institutions
DEPR interacted with several national and international institutions.
During the year, it participated in:
- IMF Article IV deliberations
- IMF Financial Sector Assessment Programme discussions
- Interactions with global credit-rating agencies such as S&P, Moody’s and Fitch
- Deliberations of the 16th Finance Commission
- Workshops involving rural and urban local bodies.
It also worked with:
- National Statistics Office (NSO)
- SEBI
- Advisory Committee on National Accounts Statistics
to improve the quality and coverage of National Accounts Statistics.
11. 2026-27 Research Agenda
For 2026-27, DEPR plans to focus on flagship reports and topical policy research.
Important proposed themes include:
- Manufacturing export intensity
- Inter-sectoral linkages
- Global monetary-policy spillovers
- Supply management
- Food inflation
- Debt-market mutual-fund resilience
- Renewable-energy transition
- Urban cooperative banks
- Household consumption expenditure
- Global Capability Centres and India’s balance of payments.
Exam Insight
RBI research is increasingly combining:
Macroeconomics + finance + technology + climate + structural transformation.
12. Department of Statistics and Information Management — DSIM
The:
Department of Statistics and Information Management (DSIM)
focuses on:
- Compiling statistics
- Analysing statistics
- Disseminating macro-financial data
- Improving data quality
- Conducting and improving surveys.
It also initiated the release of household-survey results covering:
Semi-urban and rural areas.
Exam Memory
DSIM = Data + Statistics + Information Management
13. What Is CIMS?
One of the most important DSIM initiatives is:
Centralised Information Management System (CIMS)
The objective is to shift reporting away from:
Paper + e-mail + ad hoc data collection
towards:
Structured electronic reporting through CIMS.
During FY 2025-26:
All assigned paper/e-mail-based returns were transitioned into structured reporting under CIMS.
This is an important example of data-standardisation within RBI.
14. CIMS and the New RBI Data Centre
RBI is also migrating the CIMS IT infrastructure to its:
New Data Centre
with capacity augmentation.
The migration was still in progress during FY 2025-26.
The 2026-27 agenda includes completing this migration to improve system efficiency.
15. CISBI Modernisation
The:
Central Information System for Banking Infrastructure (CISBI)
is being modernised as part of CIMS.
During FY 2025-26, enhancement and modernisation activities were initiated and remained in progress.
Exam Association
CISBI → Banking infrastructure information
CIMS → broader centralised information-management architecture
16. SDMX-Based Reporting
Another important statistical initiative is:
Statistical Data and Metadata eXchange (SDMX)
RBI is using SDMX for:
Element-Based Reporting (EBR)
The process included:
- Development of software modules.
- Pilot testing with select banks.
- Expansion to major Scheduled Commercial Banks.
- Creation of standard data architectures.
- Parallel reporting in CIMS.
- Progressive expansion to supervision, regulation and other areas.
17. Why SDMX Matters
Traditional reporting may require institutions to submit large reports containing numerous fields.
Element-based reporting focuses on:
Standardised individual data elements
This facilitates:
- Better data architecture
- Consistency
- Reusability
- Easier aggregation
- More efficient analysis.
For RBI, this supports a more modern:
data-as-an-infrastructure approach.
18. AI/ML in RBI Statistical Systems
DSIM increasingly used:
Artificial Intelligence / Machine Learning
for forecasting and nowcasting.
Models were upgraded using:
- Extreme climate-event data
- Other high-frequency information.
For example, RBI analysed the impact of:
Extreme weather events on vegetable prices
to identify how climate shocks affect output and prices.
This is important because climate risks can influence:
Agricultural output → food supply → vegetable prices → inflation → monetary policy
19. Large Language Models and RBI Data
A particularly important development was the use of:
Large Language Models (LLMs)
for analysing unstructured information.
LLMs were used to analyse:
- Large-scale complaint data under the RBI Integrated Ombudsman Scheme
- Unstructured social-media feedback.
This generated:
Granular bank-wise sentiment insights.
AI/ML tools were also used to identify trends in:
Credit flows at sectoral and regional levels
using granular data collected under the Basic Statistical Return.
20. Housing Price Index Revision
RBI’s:
Housing Price Index (HPI)
was compiled quarterly using transaction-level data from registration authorities.
During FY 2025-26:
- Base year was updated to 2022-23.
- Coverage expanded to 18 major cities.
- Methodology was refined.
Exam Point
HPI new base year → 2022-23
Coverage → 18 major cities
21. Banking Services Price Index
The:
Banking Services Price Index (BkSPI)
also underwent base-year revision as part of the broader work on services-sector price indices and alignment with revised macroeconomic aggregates.
The work was completed during FY 2025-26.
22. CIMS Analytical Platform and Cloudera AI
The CIMS analytical platform was upgraded to:
Cloudera AI
Internal testing was underway, after which access would be provided to RBI users in phases.
This demonstrates RBI’s effort to integrate modern analytics directly into its institutional data environment.
23. Central Fraud Registry for UCBs and NBFCs
Another major data-system development was completion of the:
Central Fraud Registry (CFR)
for:
- Urban Cooperative Banks (UCBs)
- Non-Banking Financial Companies (NBFCs)
within CIMS.
This is an important intersection between:
Data infrastructure + supervision + fraud management.
24. Data Dashboards
DSIM was also developing analytical dashboards within CIMS.
The objective is to improve:
- Analytical representation
- Graphical representation
- Accessibility of data
- Department-level decision support.
This reflects the broader transition from:
Raw data → dashboards → actionable information
25. Alternative Data Sources
RBI is increasingly exploring non-traditional data sources.
One example is the use of:
Geospatial night-time light data
to nowcast:
GSDP growth of major Indian states
by combining it with:
- Google Search volume data
- Other information.
This is intended to strengthen near-term economic assessment.
26. Remote Sensing and Crop-Loss Assessment
A generic framework was designed for:
Crop-loss assessment due to extreme weather events
using:
- Remote-sensing data
- AI/ML tools.
Why important?
This shows how RBI’s data architecture is moving beyond conventional surveys and administrative datasets towards:
Satellite/remote sensing + AI + alternative data + conventional statistics
27. 2026-27 Statistical Priorities
DSIM’s 2026-27 agenda includes:
- Review of monetary-policy surveys
- Comprehensive review of RBI’s data-dissemination portal
- Migration of CIMS to the new Data Centre
- Conversational English-language data-query facility
- Phased implementation of EBR
- Statistical Data Quality Index (DQI)
- DQI dashboards for RBI and regulated entities
- Exploration of high-frequency service-sector indicators.
High-Probability Question
What is the proposed purpose of the conversational English-language data-query facility?
To allow common users to query RBI data through a more accessible language-based interface.
28. Legal Department of RBI
The:
Legal Department
is responsible for:
- Examining legal issues
- Providing legal advice
- Managing litigation for RBI
- Supporting DICGC
- Supporting CAFRAL
- Providing legal assistance to other RBI-owned institutions.
Thus, the Legal Department provides the institutional bridge between:
RBI policy → statutory authority → regulation → litigation → legal compliance
29. AI in RBI’s Legal Function
The Legal Department’s 2025-26 agenda included a research paper on:
“Leveraging of AI for Enhancing the Legal Function in the Financial Sector”
A team of:
Three officers
was constituted for this work.
The research was still being completed and was expected shortly.
This is another example of RBI exploring AI beyond financial analytics.
30. Banking Laws (Amendment) Act, 2025
One of the most important legal developments during the year was the:
Banking Laws (Amendment) Act, 2025
The Act received:
Presidential assent on April 15, 2025.
The Annual Report notes that the amendment, among other things, seeks to:
- Improve governance standards in banking.
- Enhance protection of depositors and investors.
- Increase the tenure of directors, other than chairperson and whole-time directors, in cooperative banks.
- Provide for simultaneous and successive nomination.
31. Why the Banking Laws Amendment Matters for RBI Data Systems
The Banking Laws (Amendment) Act, 2025 also had an operational impact on RBI’s reporting systems.
The definition of:
“fortnight”
was changed from:
“reporting Friday”
to:
“fifteenth and last day of calendar month”.
Consequently, RBI had to modify software modules used for submission of returns and related reports after the relevant provisions came into effect.
Exam Insight
This is a good example of:
Legislative change → regulatory reporting change → IT-system modification
32. RBI Act, 1934: 2026-27 Legal Priority
The Legal Department’s most important forward-looking objective is:
Reviewing the Reserve Bank of India Act, 1934 and suggesting required legislative changes.
For an RBI promotion examination, this is an especially important point because the RBI Act forms the statutory foundation of many of the Reserve Bank’s functions.
33. Regulation Drafting Capacity
During FY 2025-26, the Legal Department collaborated with:
- National Law School of India University, Bengaluru
- National Law University, Delhi
- NALSAR, Hyderabad
- Gujarat National Law University, Gandhinagar.
Together they organised:
Four training programmes on Regulation Drafting
for officers, particularly those working in:
- Supervision
- Regulation
- Enforcement
- Regional offices.
This strengthens the institutional capacity required for high-quality financial regulation.
34. The RBI Knowledge Architecture
The different departments can be understood as a connected chain:
DEPR
↓
Research & economic analysis
↓
DSIM
↓
Statistics & structured data
↓
CIMS / SDMX / AI
↓
Evidence for policy and supervision
↓
Legal Department
↓
Statutory and regulatory framework
This is the broader institutional architecture behind RBI’s decision-making.
35. Important Numbers & Dates
| Topic | Figure / Date |
|---|---|
| DEPR research projects | 102 |
| Minimum research target | 100 |
| RBI Professorial Chairs | 20 |
| DEPR Study Circle seminars | 14 |
| HPI new base year | 2022-23 |
| HPI coverage | 18 major cities |
| CIMS paper/e-mail returns | All assigned transitioned |
| CIMS analytical platform | Cloudera AI |
| CFR coverage | UCBs + NBFCs |
| Banking Laws Amendment assent | April 15, 2025 |
| Regulation-drafting programmes | 4 |
| AI legal-function research team | 3 officers |
| RBI Act review | 2026-27 priority |
36. High-Probability Exam Questions
Q1. Which RBI department is the key centre for policy research?
DEPR — Department of Economic and Policy Research.
Q2. How many extensive research projects did DEPR undertake in FY 2025-26?
102.
Q3. What was the minimum research target?
100 research papers/projects.
Q4. How many RBI Professorial Chairs existed?
20.
Q5. Which department manages macro-financial statistics?
DSIM — Department of Statistics and Information Management.
Q6. What is CIMS?
Centralised Information Management System.
Q7. What happened to paper/e-mail-based returns during FY 2025-26?
All assigned paper/e-mail-based returns were transitioned into structured reporting under CIMS.
Q8. What is SDMX?
Statistical Data and Metadata eXchange.
Q9. What is EBR?
Element-Based Reporting.
Q10. What was the new base year of HPI?
2022-23.
Q11. How many cities were covered by the revised HPI?
18 major cities.
Q12. What AI platform was used to upgrade the CIMS analytical platform?
Cloudera AI.
Q13. For which entities was the Central Fraud Registry in CIMS completed?
Urban Cooperative Banks and NBFCs.
Q14. When did the Banking Laws (Amendment) Act, 2025 receive Presidential assent?
April 15, 2025.
Q15. What major RBI legislation is proposed for review in 2026-27?
The RBI Act, 1934.
37. One-Minute Revision Sheet
DEPR → research + policy analysis
DEPR research → 102 projects
Target → 100
Professorial Chairs → 20
DEPR Study Circle → 14 seminars
RCF theme → India’s External Sector: Navigating Global Turbulence
DSIM → statistics + information management
CIMS → Centralised Information Management System
Paper/e-mail returns → structured CIMS reporting
SDMX → Statistical Data and Metadata eXchange
EBR → Element-Based Reporting
AI/ML → forecasting + nowcasting
Extreme weather → vegetable-price analysis
LLMs → complaints + social-media analysis
HPI → base year 2022-23
HPI → 18 major cities
CIMS analytical platform → Cloudera AI
CFR → UCBs + NBFCs
Night-time lights + Google Search → GSDP nowcasting
Remote sensing + AI/ML → crop-loss assessment
Legal Department → legal advice + litigation
AI legal research → 3 officers
Banking Laws Amendment → assent April 15, 2025
2026-27 legal priority → review RBI Act, 1934
Key Takeaways
- DEPR is RBI’s key centre for economic and policy research.
- DEPR undertook 102 extensive research projects in FY 2025-26 against a target of at least 100.
- Its research covered inflation, monetary transmission, wages, FinTech, external-sector developments, agriculture and green banking.
- RBI had 20 Professorial Chairs across research institutes and universities.
- The Report on Currency and Finance under preparation carried the theme “India’s External Sector: Navigating Global Turbulence.”
- DSIM is responsible for compiling, analysing and disseminating macro-financial statistics.
- All assigned paper/e-mail-based returns were shifted to structured reporting under CIMS.
- RBI expanded SDMX-based Element-Based Reporting through pilots and subsequent testing with major Scheduled Commercial Banks.
- AI/ML was used in forecasting and nowcasting, including analysis of the effects of extreme weather on vegetable prices.
- LLMs were used to analyse complaint data and social-media feedback for granular bank-wise sentiment insights.
- RBI revised the HPI base year to 2022-23 and expanded coverage to 18 major cities.
- The CIMS analytical platform was upgraded to Cloudera AI, while the Central Fraud Registry for UCBs and NBFCs was completed within CIMS.
- RBI also used alternative data such as night-time lights and Google Search volumes for near-term GSDP assessment.
- The Legal Department provides legal advice and manages litigation for RBI and supports RBI-owned institutions.
- The Banking Laws (Amendment) Act, 2025 received Presidential assent on April 15, 2025.
- The amendment includes measures concerning banking governance, depositor/investor protection, cooperative-bank director tenure and simultaneous/successive nomination.
- The Legal Department’s 2026-27 priority includes reviewing the RBI Act, 1934 and suggesting required legislative changes.
Final Exam Perspective
For the RBI Grade B Promotion Exam, the best way to remember this chapter is to see research, data and law as one institutional chain:
DEPR → Research
DSIM → Statistics
CIMS → Structured data
SDMX → Standardised data exchange
AI/ML → Forecasting and nowcasting
LLMs → Unstructured-data analysis
Cloudera AI → Advanced CIMS analytics
CFR → Fraud information infrastructure
Legal Department → Legal interpretation and litigation
Banking Laws (Amendment) Act, 2025 → Legislative change
RBI Act, 1934 review → 2026-27 legal priority
The most important factual cluster is:
102 research projects + 20 Professorial Chairs + CIMS + SDMX/EBR + HPI base 2022-23 + 18 cities + Cloudera AI + CFR for UCBs/NBFCs + Banking Laws Amendment assent April 15, 2025 + RBI Act review in 2026-27.
The deeper lesson is that RBI’s policy capacity increasingly depends on a complete knowledge architecture: high-quality research explains economic developments, structured statistics provide the evidence, AI expands analytical capability, and legal expertise ensures that policy and regulation operate within a sound statutory framework.
Part 25 complete.