With 1 million followers, RBI most popular central bank on Twitter

The Reserve Bank of India, the world’s first central bank to have over 1 million followers on Twitter, can give top social media influencers and celebrities a run for their money as far as genuine followers are concerned (and not bots pushing up numbers, as is often the case with those in the social influence race.) But 1 million in a country of 1.3 billion people is only a fraction, besides the People’s Bank of China isn’t on Twitter.

A central bank’s influence is more measurable in terms of foreign reserves it holds and how it stacks up vis-a-vis other central banks. A partial reference to this can be found in the monthly US Treasury Department release which lists major foreign holders of the US Treasury — India is not in the top 10. 

Its vast foreign exchange reserves are distributed evenly among various other currencies and gold. India, as of September, ties for the eleventh and twelfth spot in US Treasury holding with Taiwan.

In terms of foreign exchange reserves, too, both are close: India is holding $572 billion, the world’s fifth largest, and Taiwan $501 billion, the sixth.