NEW DELHI: The Bimal Jalan Committee constituted by the Reserve Bank of India to decide on the appropriate level of reserves that RBI should hold, is likely to meet last week of this month.“The committee is likely to meet in the last week of April. The meeting will discuss the panel’s recommendations on the amount of surplus to be transferred and the time and date of the transfer. If required, there will be another meeting,” a senior finance ministry official told this publication.
However, the official added that the report would come only after the meeting and not before it. While many central banks hold 2-3 per cent of their total assets as a contingency fund, the RBI’s quantum on this account is 7.05 per cent. Last year, the government sought more surplus funds from RBI, which resulted in an open spat between the then RBI governor Urjit Patel and the finance ministry.
Post this, the central bank formed a six-member committee led by its former governor Bimal Jalan to decide on the appropriate level of reserve that the regulator should hold.“The government is of the opinion that the excess reserves can be ‘transferred’ over a period of time in ways that don’t destabilise the markets via redemption of government bonds held by the RBI,” the official added.