Govt earmarks Rs 1,542 cr to buy RBI's stake in Nabard, NHB

The government has set aside Rs 1,542 crore for acquiring Reserve Bank's holding in the two regulators National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (Nabard) and National Housing Bank (NHB).

The provision is for meeting the expenditure for acquiring Reserve Bank holding in Nabard and NHB, according to the Budget document tabled in Parliament earlier this week.

The Centre has earmaked Rs 1,100 crore for the acquisition of Nabard, while Rs 442 crore is projected for taking up NHB's stake.

At present, the RBI holds about 72.5 per cent stake in Nabard and the remaining lies with the government.

While, NHB is wholly owned by the Reserve Bank.

The total paid-up capital of Nabard currently stands at Rs 2,000 crore, NHB was capitalised at Rs 350 crore when it was set up in 1988.

It was the Narasimhan Committee that recommended the transfer of RBI stake in State Bank of India, Nabard and NHB to the government to separate the central bank's functioning as the owner of banks and the sector regulator.

In 2007, the government acquired 59.73 per cent stake held by RBI in the country's largest bank SBI for Rs 35,531.33 crore.