NEW DELHI: The Reserve Bank of India on Friday approved a dividend payout of Rs 57,128 crore to the government for 2019-20.
Last year, RBI had made a record payment of Rs 1.76 lakh crore.
While the latest payment is in line with Budget estimates, it may not be of great help as the government’s fiscal deficit (difference between income and expenses) widened to Rs 6.6 lakh crore by the June quarter.
With the economy reeling under the impact of coronavirus pandemic and tax collections falling way short of target, the government’s finances are in shambles, sources said.
“Along with the economy, tax revenues too have shrunk. While income from GST halved in the April-June quarter compared to the same period last year, income tax collections fell by 36% and taxes on corporates came in 23% short,” said an official.
The decision to transfer money to the government was taken at RBI’s board meeting on Friday, held through video-conferencing.
The board also decided to maintain the central bank’s contingency risk buffer (risk provisioning) at 5.5%.
Sources said aggressive plans to sell stake in government- run companies and financial institutions as well as larger borrowing were on the cards to bridge the deficit.