NEW DELHI: The government is not currently considering any proposal to give more powers to the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to deal with state-owned banks, said Minister of State for Finance Shiv Pratap Shukla in the Rajya Sabha on Tuesday. The powers of the RBI are wide-ranging and comprehensive to deal with various situations that may emerge in all banks, including public sector banks (PSBs), he said in written reply. “No proposal with regard to change in the RBI’s powers in respect of public sector banks is presently under consideration/consultation,” he said while replying to a question if the government was contemplating to give more powers to the RBI to enable it to regulate public sector banks in wake of recent scams.
The minister further said improvement in regulatory functioning being an ongoing process, the government engages with stakeholders, including the RBI, and discusses issues as they evolve. To another question, Minister of State for Finance P Radhakrishnan said the government has requested the RBI for an interim surplus on analogy of the previous year when interim surplus was requested by the government and transferred by the RBI. In 2017-18, the government received Rs 10,000 crore as interim surplus in March 2018, over Rs 30,659 crore surplus in 2016-17. He also said the amount of surplus to be transferred for 2018-19 would be ascertained only after closure of books of the RBI’s accounts in June 2019. RBI follows July to June calendar.