RBI payout to govt drops as it sets aside more money for rainy day
The Reserve Bank of India’s expenditure surged as it tucked away more money towards a contingency fund, it’s annual report showed, a development economists said cut the central bank’s surplus and led to the smallest dividend payout in a decade to the government. While income rose by 20.1% in the financial year to March 2022, expenditure zoomed by more than 280% to ₹ 1.29 lakh crore, according to the report published Friday, with provisions worth ₹ 1.15 lakh crore ($14.8 billion) set aside and transferred to contingency fund. That was nearly six times the amount set aside last year, the annual report showed. The contingency fund is a rainy day fund meant for unexpected and unforeseen situations, including depreciation in the value of securities, risks arising out of monetary and exchange rate policy operations conducted by the Reserve Bank of India. During the year, revaluation of the central bank’s foreign currency investments lead to a charge of 942 billion rupees, leadin...