Rahul tweets ‘#RBILooted’, FM says criticism outlandish

New, Aug 27 (IANS) As the RBI central board accepted the recommendations of the Bimal Jalan panel on capital transfer and decided to pay the government Rs 1.76 lakh crore for the current fiscal, criticism of the panel and the government poured in on social media, with Congress leader Rahul Gandhi describing the development as a a theft, tweeting with "#RBILooted".

Earlier in the day Gandhi in a tweet said that the Prime Minister and the Finance Minister 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 #RBILooted".

Later Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman hit out at criticism of the Bimal Jalan panel's recommendations and said that any questions raised about the Reserve Bank of India's credibility in the wake of Jalan panel's report is "outlandish".

"The Bimal Jalan committee had eminent experts in it. It was constituted by the RBI itself and not by the government. They have had several sittings and have come out with a formula to look at the excess capital framework. Now any suggestion about the credibility of RBI, therefore, for me seems a bit outlandish considering the committee was appointed by RBI themselves", she told reporters in Pune following a meeting with income tax officials.

"Its very worrying that a committee appointed by the RBI of experts who have had several meetings and have come out with a formulation is now being questioned," she added.

Congress spokesperson Randeep Singh Surjewala also took to twitter for criticising the recommendation. "Modi 2.0 has converted the 'R' in RBI from 'Reserve' to 'Ravaged'! Contingency Reserve of RBI meant for extreme financial emergencies & war-like situations is being used by BJP Govt to bury its monumental mess on economic front! BJP has finished RBI's credibility," Surjewala tweeted.

On Monday, the RBI central board accepted the recommendations of the Bimal Jalan panel on capital transfer and decided to pay the government Rs 1.76 lakh crore for the current fiscal, a decision that ended a year of disagreement between the government and the central bank.

The decision also signals an end of the discretionary power enjoyed by the RBI on dividend payouts. In the current fiscal, the RBI will pay out Rs 1.23 lakh crore of surplus and Rs 52, 637 crore of excess contingency provisions lying in its books.