Another bumper RBI dividend likely in FY27, disinvestments seen at Rs 80,000 crore

4 min readNew DelhiUpdated: Feb 1, 2026 09:58 PM IST

The Indian government expects to get another bumper dividend from the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) in FY27, with the Union Budget estimating Rs 3.16 lakh crore as dividend from the central bank, public sector banks, and financial institutions as part of its non-tax revenues. Money from disinvestments is also seen rising sharply to Rs 80,000 crore.

The RBI’s surplus — which was a record Rs 2.69 lakh crore in FY26 — makes up the bulk of the dividend from RBI, public sector banks, and financial institutions. The revised estimate (RE) for the current year has been raised to Rs 3.05 lakh crore from Rs 2.56 lakh crore.

Meanwhile, disinvestment receipts are seen rising sharply from Rs 33,837 crore in FY26. This, as per Madhavi Arora, Chief Economist at Emkay Global Financial Services, seems to assume that the government will complete the disinvestment of IDBI Bank next year as well as the stake sale in LIC.

“The intent is that we will have a very strong asset monetisation plan in place. Last year, Ma’am (Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman) had announced in the Budget that there will be a pipeline prepared, which is being done. So, we hope to reap the dividends from that,” Economic Affairs Secretary Anuradha Thakur told reporters at the post-Budget press conference.

In her speech, Sitharaman had said with Real Estate Investment Trusts (REITs) emerging as a successful instrument for asset monetisation, the Centre proposes to “accelerate recycling of significant real estate assets” of central public sector enterprises (CPSEs) through setting up of dedicated REITs.

Meanwhile, the government expects to receive Rs 75,000 crore as dividends from PSEs and its other investments in FY27, slightly higher than the Rs 71,000 crore projected for the current fiscal.

Disinvestments along with the dividend from the RBI, public sector banks, and public sector enterprises constitute the Centre’s non-tax revenue, which is a significant contributor to the exchequer. All put together, the Union Budget has estimated the Centre’s non-tax revenue for 2026-27 at Rs 6.66 lakh crore, a marginal Rs 1,434 crore — or 0.2% — lower than the revised estimate for 2025-26.

Story continues below this ad

The non-tax revenue estimate for next year is equal to 23% of the Centre’s net tax revenue, highlighting its importance for the government.

Over the years, dividend from the RBI has become an increasingly important source of revenue for the Centre. While FY26 saw the central bank transfer a record sum on the back of nearly $400 billion of foreign currency sales to support the rupee — the RBI generates a profit on every unit of foreign currency it sells as it the sale price is greater than the price at which it purchase these currencies — the current fiscal year ending in March 2026 will likely see far lower gains from these currency sales as the quantum of intervention by the RBI in the foreign exchange market has been significantly lower. According to latest data, the RBI’s foreign currency sales in April-November 2025 stood at $98 billion, down 44% from the same period in the previous fiscal.

However, the central bank is widely expected to report a huge rise in its interest income on account of it having purchased several lakhs of crores worth of government bonds during FY26 to boost liquidity in the banking system.

Siddharth Upasani is a Deputy Associate Editor with The Indian Express. He reports primarily on data and the economy, looking for trends and changes in the former which paint a picture of the latter. Before The Indian Express, he worked at Moneycontrol and financial newswire Informist (previously called Cogencis). Outside of work, sports, fantasy football, and graphic novels keep him busy.

… Read More

Source link