Centre denies seeking Rs 3.6 lakh crore from RBI reserves

Dismissing reports that the government sought Rs 3.6 lakh crore from the RBI reserves as "misinformed speculation", Economic Affairs Secretary Subhash Chandra Garg on Friday said there was no such proposal and that the country's fiscal deficit target was on track.

The government will meet its budget gap aim of 3.3 per cent of Gross Domestic Product for the current financial year ending March, he stressed.

He, however, said that the proposal under discussion between the government and the Reserve Bank of India is to fix "appropriate" economic capital framework of the RBI.

"Lot of misinformed speculation is going around in media. Government's fiscal math is completely on track. There is no proposal to ask RBI to transfer (Rs) 3.6 or (Rs) 1 lakh crore, as speculated," Garg said in a tweet.

Asserting that the government's fiscal deficit target was on track, another tweet from him said: "...Government has actually foregone Rs 70,000 crore of budgeted market borrowing this year."

Reports last week said that the government had proposed that the RBI transfer Rs 3.6 lakh crore from its reserves, which the central bank refused.

--IANS

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