4. The Government’s remaining reserve source of supply of cash in the form of rupees or sterling is the Cash Balances. Both the total of these and the proportions held in rupees and sterling respectively vary within wide limits from time to time. Their total amount fluctuates according to the volume of taxes coming in at different seasons of the year, the recency with which loans have been contracted for capital expenditure, the proximity of extraordinary expenditure impending, the receipts of windfalls of income (as, recently, from the opium revenue), the general prosperity of the country, and the degree of caution or optimism which, in the opinion of those responsible for the finances, the general situation warrants. The proportions held in rupees and sterling respectively depend even more on considerations of temporary convenience,—recent or impending capital transactions in London, the likelihood of sterling funds being wanted for the purchase of silver, and trade demands for Council Bills as a means of remittance. The totals of the cash balances at various dates are given below.
Cash Balances(a)
| In India. | In London. | Total. | |||||
| March 31, | 1901 | £8,767,687 | £4,091,926 | £12,859,613 | |||
| ” | 1903 | 12,081,388 | 5,767,786 | 17,849,174 | |||
| ” | 1905 | 10,597,770 | 10,262,581 | 20,860,351 | |||
| ” | 1907 | 10,026,932 | 5,606,812 | 15,633,744 | |||
| ” | 1908 | 12,851,413 | 4,607,266 | 17,458,679 | |||
| ” | 1909 | 10,235,483 | 7,983,898 | 18,219,381 | |||
| ” | 1910 | 12,295,428 | 12,799,094 | 25,094,522 | |||
| ” | 1911 | 13,566,922 | 16,696,990 | 30,263,912 | |||
| ” | 1912 | 12,279,689 | 18,390,013 | 30,669,702 | |||
| ” | 1913 | 19,543,900 | 8,372,900 | 27,916,800 | |||
(a) Excluding balances held in the Gold Standard Reserve.
It may be added that the Indian cash balances are kept partly in District Treasuries all over the country, partly in Reserve Treasuries, and partly on deposit at the Presidency Banks. The District Treasuries do not usually contain more resources than they require for ordinary transactions, and the balances in excess of immediate requirements, which are transferred to the Reserve Treasuries, are mainly held in the form of notes. Thus the Government has no large surplus stock of rupees outside the Currency Reserve. The London Balances are held partly at the Bank of England and partly on loan for short periods with certain financial houses on an approved list.[62] No more than a working balance (about £500,000) is ordinarily held at the Bank of England, and this has been reckoned for many years now (though not formerly) amongst the “other” deposits, not amongst the “public” deposits. It will be seen from the table given above that the London Balances fell to a low level in 1908, the Secretary of State making free use of them to aid him in supporting exchange during the critical months of that year. On October 30, 1908, these balances had sunk to £1,196,691. In 1911 and 1912, on the other hand, they reached a very high figure, and in June of both these years exceeded £19,000,000. By the end of 1912 they had sunk again to a more normal level. This abnormally high level in the first half of 1912 gave rise to much criticism in regard both to the amount of the balances and also to the method adopted of lending them out in the London Money Market. Something will be said about this in the concluding paragraphs of this chapter.
5. We are now in a position to see exactly what resources in sterling and rupees respectively the Indian authorities have, on which to draw for the fulfilment of their currency obligations. Since the surplus balances in India, beyond those required by the District Treasuries and those deposited with the Presidency Banks, are mainly held in notes, we may neglect them for the present purpose.
Rupee Reserves are held partly in the Currency Reserve, partly in the Gold Standard Reserve. In December 1912 the amounts were approximately as follows:—
| Currency Reserve(a) | £10,000,000 |
| Gold Standard Reserve | 3,750,000 |
| —————– | |
| £13,750,000 | |
| ════════ |
(a) Including silver bullion in India or in transit.
Sterling Reserves are held partly in the Currency Reserve, partly in the Gold Standard Reserve, and partly in the London Cash Balances. The forms in which they are held are gold (in the Currency Reserve, both in India and London, and to a small extent in the Gold Standard Reserve), money lent at short notice (in the Gold Standard Reserve and in the Cash Balances), and sterling securities (in the Currency Reserve and in the Gold Standard Reserve). In December 1912 the amounts were approximately as follows:—