RBI Annual Report: Central Bank's Balance Sheet Expands 11% In FY24

According to the central bank's annual report released on Thursday, the increase on the asset side was due to a rise in foreign investments, gold, and loans and advances. On the liability side, the expansion was attributed to an increase in notes issued, deposits, and other liabilities.

A provision of Rs 42,819.91 crore was made and transferred to the Contingency Fund during the year, compared with Rs 1.31 lakh crore a year ago. No provision was made towards the Asset Development Fund.

As of March 31, the RBI's contingency fund stood at around Rs 4.29 lakh crore, or 6.5% of the balance sheet size. This was higher than Rs 3.51 lakh crore a year ago.

During fiscal 2023-24, the central bank faced mark-to-market losses worth Rs 1.43 lakh crore on its foreign securities portfolio and Rs 7,090 crore on the rupee securities portfolio. These are debited from the contingency fund on March 31 and reversed on April 1. The losses on foreign and rupee securities are lower than last year, because of softening of yields for almost all major markets across maturity buckets, the RBI said in its annual report.

The relatively lower provisions toward the contingency fund led to a larger-than-expected surplus for the banking regulator this year. Last week, the RBI announced it would transfer over Rs 2.1 lakh crore in surplus to the government, compared with Rs 87,420 crore a year ago.