The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on Friday announced it will pay a record dividend of Rs 2.69 lakh crore to the government for the fiscal year ended March 2025, marking a 27.4 percent increase from the Rs 2.1 lakh crore transferred in 2023-24.The dividend pay-out for 2022-23 had stood at Rs 87,416 crore.This decision was made at the 616th meeting of the RBI Central Board of Directors, chaired by Governor Sanjay Malhotra, PTI reported. During the meeting, the board reviewed the global and domestic economic outlook, including associated risks.The board also evaluated the Reserve Bank’s performance for the year April 2024 to March 2025 and approved the Annual Report and Financial Statements for FY25.The transferable surplus was determined based on the revised Economic Capital Framework (ECF), which was approved by the Central Board on May 15, 2025.“The Board…approved the transfer of Rs 2,68,590.07 crore as surplus to the Central Government for the accounting year 2024-25,” the RBI stated.Under the revised framework, risk provisioning via the Contingent Risk Buffer (CRB) is to be maintained between 4.50 and 7.50 percent of the RBI’s balance sheet. Taking into account the macroeconomic environment, the board decided to increase the CRB to 7.50 percent.What is Economic Capital Framework ? The RBI gives dividend to the government on the basis of its Economic Capital Framework (ECF), which was adopted in August 2019 based on Bimal Jalan-led Expert Committee report.The committee had suggested maintaining the Contingent Risk Buffer (CRB) between 5.5 to 6.5 per cent of the RBI’s balance sheet. Last week, the RBI board had reviewed the ECF, which serves as the basis for determining the surplus transfer to the government.In 2023-24 fiscal, RBI had transferred a record Rs 2.1 lakh crore, more than double of Rs 87,416 crore transferred in 2022-23.
