RBI likely to announce dividend for Centre today

Mumbai, The Reserve Bank is likely to announce on Friday the dividend amount that will be paid to the central government for fiscal 2024-25. For the 2023-24 fiscal, the RBI had transferred a record surplus amount or dividend of Rs 2.1 lakh crore to the government. The quantum was more than double that of Rs 87,416 crore paid for 2022-23 financial year.

The dividend payout is expected to be higher this time, the decision about which is likely to be taken at the next meeting of the Central Board of Directors of the Reserve Bank of India to be held on May 23.

Last week, the RBI’s Central Board reviewed the Economic Capital Framework (ECF) which is the basis for deciding the surplus transfer to the government.

The RBI had said that as part of the agenda the Board reviewed the ECF.

The transferable surplus is determined on the basis of the ECF adopted by the Reserve Bank on August 26, 2019, as per recommendations of the Bimal Jalan-headed Expert Committee to Review the extant Economic Capital Framework of the RBI.

The Committee had recommended that the risk provisioning under the Contingent Risk Buffer (CRB) be maintained within a range of 6.5 to 5.5 per cent of the RBI’s balance sheet. The Union Budget for the current fiscal has projected a dividend income of Rs 2.56 lakh crore from the Reserve Bank and public sector financial institutions.