As part of its internal restructuring, the Reserve Bank of India is understood to have taken an in-principle decision to get out of the retail government businesses.

Retail government businesses include distribution of Relief Bonds, debt data warehousing, tax collection etc.

A roadmap has been drawn up so as to complete the process by 2006. The central bank has already shelved the distribution of 8 per cent taxable RBI Relief Bonds. The instrument will now be distributed by banks.

The RBI is also in talks with the National Securities Depositories Ltd to transfer the job of warehousing government debt data.

The central bank has initiated the move to reduce paperwork and manpower usage for non-core activities.

Sources said that other government businesses such as tax collection have also been transferred to banks.

In fact, in an era of dropping interest rates, government businesses have become a new revenue source for the new generation private sector banks.

While there is a proposal to delink the debt business from the regulatory activities of the RBI, bankers said such a move will require an amendment to the RBI Act.

This is because the public debt management or the government borrowing programme forms a statutory obligation for the RBI.

Earlier, when many in the officer cadre decided to accept the early retirement scheme, an internal restructuring was proposed to cope up with the staff shortage.

Many departments and divisions were merged together and non-core activities like government retail businesses were shelved.