RBI to set up office in Andhra after clarity over state capital

Amaravati, Feb 1 : The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has said that it will pursue the matter relating to setting up its office in Andhra Pradesh only after the state government finalises the location for the state capital.

The RBI conveyed this in response to the request for establishing an office in Andhra Pradesh following the division of the combined RBI office in Hyderabad in the wake of the bifurcation of undivided Andhra Pradesh to create Telangana state.

RBI Deputy General Manager M.K. Subhashree wrote to Amaravati Development Authority Chairman Jasti Veeranjaneyulu that the matter related to the opening of RBI office at the newly formed Andhra Pradesh state can be pursued only after the state government finalises the location for its capital city.

The RBI official conveyed this in response to a letter by ADA Chairman seeking immediate steps to set up the RBI office.

Referring to ADA Chairman's grievance about currency chests for storage of cash, the RBI official informed that there are 104 currency chests in the state. The deputy general manager wrote that there has not been any complaint regarding the shortage of banknotes in Andhra Pradesh during meetings of state-level coordination committee and state-level security committee held every half year.

Uncertainty over Andhra Pradesh capital is continuing ever since the YSR Congress government decided to have three state capitals, reversing the decision by the previous TDP government to develop Amaravati as the state capital.

The YSRCP government plans to develop Visakhapatnam as the administrative capital, Kurnool as judicial capital and Amaravati as legislative capital. However, farmers of Amaravati who had surrendered their lands for the development of the state capital are strongly opposing the move.

The Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy-led government recently decided to take back the legislation passed to create three capitals but announced that it would bring comprehensive legislation.