Mumbai, May 23 -- The central board of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has decided to transfer a record Rs.2.69 trillion as surplus to the government for the fiscal year 2024-25, the central bank said in a statement on Friday. The payout is 27% higher than the Rs.2.1 trillion dividend of FY24.

According to economists, the marginal increase in dividend payout will offset a miss in taxes or disinvestment receipts, or higher-than-budgeted expenditure in the fiscal year.

The higher dividend is likely to be on account of earnings on foreign exchange transactions. RBI's gross dollar sales surged to $399 billion in FY25 from $153 billion in FY24.

Bond dealers, however, are disappointed as the market was expecting a surplus of Rs.3 trillion. Y...