The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on Friday, 22 May, said it will transfer ₹2.87 lakh crore to the central government for FY26 at a time when the domestic economy is facing the heat of elevated crude oil prices driven by the Middle East conflict. Last year, the RBI released a dividend of ₹2.7 lakh crore to the Indian government.
The Central Board of Directors of the RBI met on Friday under the Chairmanship of Governor Sanjay Malhotra and approved the transfer of ₹2,86,588.46 crore to the central government for the accounting year 2025-26.
This is largely in line with expectations, as a Bloomberg report earlier suggested India’s central bank was likely to transfer a record surplus of nearly ₹3 lakh crore ($31.2 billion) this week to the government.
The central bank’s dividend to the government will serve as a significant buffer for the Indian economy in times of elevated energy prices, which are straining the country’s fiscal position due to an inflating import bill, a widening current account deficit, and an exacerbation of the foreign fund sell-off.
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