Finance Minister Piyush Goyal to address RBI Board on 9 February; highlight key points of interim Budget

New Delhi: Finance Minister Piyush Goyal is scheduled to address the customary post-Budget meeting of the central board of Reserve Bank of India on 9 February and highlight the key points of the interim Budget. The meeting will take place two days after the sixth monetary policy review which is expected to take a call on policy rates. According to sources, the board meeting on 9 February would also take up request of the government for interim dividend for the current fiscal. The government expects Rs 28,000 crore from the RBI as interim dividend for the current fiscal based on the financial position of the first half of the central bank. The Reserve Bank, which follows July-June financial year, paid Rs 40,000 crore as dividend for the current fiscal. The customary post-Budget meeting will take place against the backdrop slight deviation from fiscal deficit target for the current fiscal, tax rebate for Income up to Rs 5 lakh and income support scheme for 12 crore farmers. [caption id=“attachment_4113247” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  File image of Finance Minister Piyush Goyal. PIB[/caption] The government announced ‘Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi’ (PM-KISAN) scheme under which Rs 6,000 per year would be provided to farmers holding cultivable land of up to 2 hectare. Apart from direct income support to farmers, Goyal, in the interim Budget for 2019-20, also announced extended interest subsidy on loans availed for animal husbandry and fishery as well as to those farmers affected by severe natural calamities. The government also decided to increase standard deduction from existing Rs 40,000 to Rs 50,000 and also raised TDS threshold on interest earned on bank/post office deposits from Rs 10,000 to Rs 40,000.