Over 80 years after its inception, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on Saturday decided to switch to April-March fiscal year from the current July-June format as its accounting year to align with the Central government.

The RBI Central Board on Saturday recommended aligning the financial year of RBI, currently, July-June, with the government's fiscal year (April-March) from the year 2020-21 and approved forwarding a proposal to the government for its consideration.

Once affected, the interim dividends and dividends will be aligned with the government's fiscal year of April-March. RBI gives interim dividends in February and final pay-outs in August currently.

The internal decision was taken last year in RBI. The Jalan panel while coming out with Economic Framework Capital had recommended a change of accounting year. RBI's current fiscal ends on June 30, 2020. It's FY 2020-21 will start on July 1, 2020, and be for nine months up to March 31, 2021. Thereafter, all FY will start on April 1 every year, aligned with the government, RBI said.

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman addressed the Directors of the Central Board and outlined the thinking behind the Union Budget 2020-21 and the focus areas of the government.

The Finance Minister indicated increased complementarity in policy between the RBI and the government to address growth concerns.