Which of the following is not included in the assets of a commercial bank in India?

The answer is B) Deposits. Deposits are a liability, not an asset. When you put money into a bank, the bank owes that money back to you, so it sits on the liabilities side of the balance sheet. The Third Schedule of the Banking Regulation Act, 1949, prescribes this format for bank balance sheets.

The three items on the asset side are:

• Advances: loans and credit extended to borrowers. This is the bank's main earning asset, and the quality of these advances is what drives NPAs.
• Investments: securities held by the bank, largely government securities that help meet the SLR requirement, along with other approved instruments.
• Money at call and short notice: very short-term lending to other banks and financial institutions in the interbank market.

The core concept is the basic distinction between what a bank owns (assets) and what it owes (liabilities, including capital, reserves, deposits and borrowings). This matters for Mains questions on banking sector health, where asset quality and deposit mobilisation are both central.

Trap: Candidates sometimes pick Deposits because they are the bank's largest and most visible item. Size does not decide the category. Ask whether the bank owes the money or is owed it.