The finance ministry may not get the windfall gain it has been eyeing from Reserve Bank of India (RBI) reserves with the high-level Bimal Jalan panel looking to tie any such distribution to meaningful utilisation, such as retirement of government debt or recapitalisation of banks.The panel is expected to submit its report on July 16 after a meeting this month to narrow differences.Transfers envisaged under the current plan under discussion will be too meagre and stretched over a period of time, according to a person aware of the matter.This means the government will not be able to factor in a meaningful amount in its budget for FY20 that is to be presented on July 5. The government was hoping to include the amount in the budget but the delay in the report and the view taken by the committee have dashed those hopes.The government member of the panel — finance secretary Subhash Garg — has expressed his dissent against the view taken by the other panel members, but fresh efforts are being made to convincingly present government views before the draft report is finalised, the person said. The issues have been flagged formally to the Prime Minister’s Office as well by Garg.The government has in the past insisted that it only wanted a review of the economic capital framework (ECF) and was not eyeing RBI’s funds, though this issue became one of the key points of contention between the two.The government had cited Section 47 of the RBI Act in this regard. This says that “after making provision for bad and doubtful debts, depreciation in assets, contributions to staff and superannuation funds and for all other matters for which provision is to be made by or under this Act or which are usually provided for by bankers, the balance of the profits shall be paid to the central government.”The then finance minister Arun Jaitley had asserted that the government was only seeking a discussion on central bank’s capital framework under the Section 7 of the RBI Act — a move that sparked a controversy at the time over the perception that it impinged on the regulator’s autonomy.“I don’t need these funds for fiscal deficit, or government expenditure for this year till the month of May… I don’t need even one rupee,” Jaitley had said, refuting the contention that the government needed cash to meet its deficit target. “To ask for discussion, to use a phraseology that this is ‘raiding’ the bank. Where will this money be used? It will be used for recapitalising the banks... it could be used for the poor of the country. The government doesn’t use it for paying salaries,” he said at a public function on December 18, 2018.The six-member panel headed by former central bank governor Jalan was set up on December 26 last year to review the ECF. The move came after several exchanges between the finance ministry and the central bank on the issue. The other members of the committee include former RBI deputy governor Rakesh Mohan, who’s vice chairman, RBI deputy governor NS Vishwanathan and two RBI central board members, Bharat Doshi and Sudhir Mankad, apart from Garg and Jalan.The ECF panel was initially mandated to submit its report to the RBI within 90 days, but was subsequently given a three-month extension. The RBI has over Rs 9.6 lakh crore surplus capital with it. The panel has been entrusted with the task of reviewing the best practices followed by central banks worldwide in making assessments and provisions for risks.The finance ministry believes that the buffer of 28% of gross assets maintained by the central bank is well above the global norm of around 14%. In the past, the issue of the ideal level of RBI’s reserves had been examined by three committees — one headed by V Subrahmanyam in 1997, by Usha Thorat in 2004 and by YH Malegam in 2013.