The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has decided to transfer Rs 99,122 crore to the Centre as surplus for a nine-month period – July to March 31, 2021. Last year, the RBI transferred Rs 57,128 crore as surplus to the central government for the full accounting year of July 2019-June 20.
The transfer of surplus will provide the much-needed fillip while boosting the government's finances amid the second Covid 19 wave. Several states are currently under Covid 19 induced restrictions including lockdowns. However, the lockdown has also impacted economic activities.
The Central Bank, in a statement, said that with the change in its accounting year now to April-March from the earlier July-June, the board discussed the working of the RBI during the transition period of nine months — July 2020-March 2021.
“The central board at its meeting reviewed the current economic situation, global and domestic challenges and recent policy measures taken by the Reserve Bank to mitigate the adverse impact of the second wave of COVID-19 on the economy, the RBI said in a statement.
The RBI’s balance size sheet is about Rs 60 lakh-crore. It has foreign exchange reserves of Rs 40 lakh-crore while government securities worth Rs 14 lakh-crore. The rest comprise gold and other investments.
Earlier, former chief economic adviser Arvind Subramanian had prescribed transfer of a larger share of the RBI’s excess capital to the government, after which a committee under former RBI governor Bimal Jalan was set up to decide on the central bank’s economic capital framework.
