The Reserve Bank of India’s (RBI) Central Board has approved a record surplus transfer of ₹2,86,588.46 crore to the Central Government for the accounting year 2025-26, marking the highest-ever payout by the central bank, the RBI said in a statement on Friday, 22 May.
The decision was taken at the 623rd meeting of the Central Board of Directors of the RBI, held in Mumbai under the chairmanship of Governor Sanjay Malhotra.
The Board reviewed the global and domestic economic scenario, including risks to the outlook, and deliberated on the annual accounts of the Reserve Bank for FY 2025-26.
According to the RBI, the gross income of the Bank increased by 26.42% over the previous year, while expenditure before risk provisions increased by 27.60%.
The net income, before risk provision and transfer to statutory funds, stood at ₹3,95,972.10 crore in FY 2025-26, compared with ₹3,13,455.77 crore in FY 2024-25.
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The balance sheet of the Bank expanded by 20.61% to ₹91,97,121.08 crore as on 31 March 2026.
The RBI said the revised Economic Capital Framework provides flexibility to maintain the Contingent Risk Buffer between 4.5% and 7.5% of the size of the balance sheet.
Taking into account current macroeconomic factors, the financial performance of the Bank and the need to maintain appropriate risk buffers, the Central Board decided to transfer ₹1,09,379.64 crore towards the Contingent Risk Buffer for FY 2025-26.
This compares with ₹44,861.70 crore transferred towards the buffer in the previous year.
The Board also decided to maintain the Contingent Risk Buffer at 6.5% of the size of the RBI balance sheet.
Deputy Governors Swaminathan J., Dr Poonam Gupta, Shirish Chandra Murmu and Rohit Jain attended the meeting.
Other directors of the Central Board, including Nagaraju Maddirala, Secretary, Department of Financial Services; Satish Kashinath Marathe; Revathy Iyer; Prof Sachin Chaturvedi; Anand Gopal Mahindra; Venu Srinivasan; and Pankaj Ramanbhai Patel, also attended the meeting.
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