RBI reserves transfer: FM Sitharaman lashes out at Rahul Gandhi, says 'outlandish' to criticise move

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, at a media briefing in Delhi on Tuesday, said that the Bimal Jalan Committee, which has several experts in it, gave the formula for handing over of surplus reserves to the tune of Rs 1.76 lakh crore to the centre. So any criticism of it seems outlandish, she added. RBI's decision to hand over surplus reserves had come under fire from the Opposition. "This committee (Bimal Jalan Committee) is appointed by RBI, had experts, they gave a formula based on which the amount was arrived at, now any suggestions about credibility of RBI, therefore, for me seems a bit outlandish," she said at press conference held a day after the government announced the surplus from the RBI, helmed by Governor Shaktikanta Das.

At the press conference she lashed out at Rahul Gandhi for his 'stealing from RBI' jibe. Sitharaman said that he should speak to an expert before commenting. "Whenever Rahul Gandhi raises things like 'chor,chori,' one thing comes to my mind, he tried his best 'chor, chor, chori,' but public gave him befitting reply. What's the point of using the same words again?" she said.

"PM & FM are clueless about how to solve their self created economic disaster. Stealing from RBI won't work - it's like stealing a Band-Aid from the dispensary & sticking it on a gunshot wound," he had said.

Sitharaman also said that government wants entrepreneurs to carry on with their work without any worry. "Whatever be the size- small, medium, micro, nano or large entrepreneurs of this country, we want them to carry on with their business without a worry," said the Finance Minister.

In its meeting on Monday, the RBI board approved the transfer of Rs 1.76 lakh crore to the government of India. This sum will comprise Rs 1.23 lakh crore of surplus for the year 2018-19 and Rs 52,637 crore of excess provisions identified as per the revised Economic Capital Framework (ECF) adopted at the meeting.

The surplus funds from RBI would help the government achieve its fiscal deficit target for the current fiscal. The government has set a fiscal deficit target of 3.3 per cent of the GDP in the current fiscal, revised downwards from the goal of 3.4 per cent mentioned in the Interim Budget in February.

Also read: RBI Board approves transfer of Rs 1.76 lakh crore to Centre

Also read: 5 areas where RBI's Rs 1.76 lakh crore surplus can be deployed