(File photo)

NEW DELHI: The Reserve Bank of India ( RBI ) on Monday announced that it will give Rs 28,000 crore interim dividend to the government. The central bank in a statement said, "Based on a limited audit review and after applying the extant economic capital framework, the board decided to transfer an interim surplus of Rs 28,000 crore to the central government for the half-year ended December 31, 2018."

This is the second successive year that the Reserve Bank will be transferring an interim surplus. RBI follows a July-June financial year, so the first half was over in December.

RBI has already transferred Rs 40,000 crore in the current year (2018-19) compared to Rs 50,000 crore, including Rs 10,000 crore interim dividend, last year.

In the interim Budget 2019-20, the government has projected a fiscal deficit target of 3.4 per cent for the financial year 2019-20. Dividend payments from RBI will help the government in bridging some of the gap and also give some space to the government to boost the economy in an election year.



In Video: RBI announces Rs 28,000 crore as interim dividend to government