Mumbai: Reserve Bank Governor Shaktikanta Das on Thursday said it is the right of the government to ask for an interim dividend from it and use it the way it wants. Das was replying to a question on the impact of the Rs 6000-per annum cash pay out to farmers on the fiscal numbers.
The BJP government’s move was criticized by many and seen as an attempt to buy peace with the distressed farmers, the funds for which are likely to be met by an interim dividend of Rs 28,000 crore from the RBI. “Payment of surplus or interim dividend to the government is a part of the RBI Act, so we are not doing anything beyond what is there in the legal provision,” was all Das would say.
