Review of Jalan Committee: A case of both glass half-full and half-empty

After much wait and expectation, the Jalan Committee released its report. It was like watching the play Waiting for Godot.

My review of the key messages behind Jalan Committee in this piece on moneycontrol (fixed link).

 

As we know, the RBI gave a total surplus of Rs 1,76,051 crore to the Government of India (Government) comprising of Rs 1,23,414 crore of surplus for the year 2018-19 and Rs 52,637 crore of excess provisions. It is the second portion of Rs 52637  Cr which is due to the recommendations of the Committee. This piece focuses on this excess provision only leaving the analysis of the first part for a future piece when RBI releases its annual report.

I do this piece rather differently starting with a primer on RBI balance sheet seeing how this reserve arises and then taking it forward from there.