The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) didn’t cite a reason for the fall in dividend payout to the government. In the budget for 2017-18, finance minister Arun Jaitley had pegged dividend income from RBI, public sector banks and financial institutions at Rs74,901 crore. A statement on the dividend payout from RBI did not specify the reasons for the decline. In order to suck out excess liquidity, RBI conducts reverse repurchase (or repo) operations, among other measures. At its peak, surplus liquidity in the banking system had reached nearly Rs8 trillion in early January.

Source: Mint August 10, 2017 14:55 UTC