The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on Friday approved a dividend payout of ? 57,000 crore to the government for the current financial year. The development comes at a time when the government's fiscal deficit hit a record ? 6.62 lakh crore in the April-June period as the coronavirus pandemic-triggered lockdown affected its revenue collections. Fiscal deficit - an indication of the total borrowings required by a government - occurs when revenue collections fall short of expenditure.

The government had budgeted a dividend of ? 60,000 crore from the central bank and other state-run financial institutions.

As the manager of government finances, the central bank pays the government a dividend each year to help the government meet its financial targets.