The Commission had been appointed to study, explicitly, the management of the balances of the Government of India in India and the India Office in London; the sale of Council drafts by the Secretary of State in London; the gold standard reserve, the paper currency reserve, and the system by which the exchange value of the rupee was maintained; and the financial organisation and procedures of the India Office. But early in the investigation the commissioners realised that it was impossible to ignore two suggestions for reform: the provision of a gold mint in India, and the establishment of a central or State Bank.

The State Bank question arose in any discussion of the management of the note issue, the proper amount for Government balances, or the operation of the Government's remittance business. There was no general agreement, however, as to what was meant by a State Bank and the commissioners found themselves at a loss in examining witnesses whenever any of these topics was considered. To assist them Abrahams prepared a ‘Memorandum on Proposals for the Establishment of a State Bank for India’ (Appendix xiv [Cd. 7071], Appendices to the Interim Report of the Commissioners, vol. II).

Abrahams's memorandum related the history of previous discussions of the question-in 1867 after a disastrous capital loss by the Bank of Bombay, and in 1899–1901 at the time of the Fowler Committee-and called attention to the benefits expected by contemporary advocates of a State Bank scheme.