Master of the unconventional.

 "The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) refused the government's proposal to extract Rs 2-3 lakh crore (Rs 2-3 trillion) from its balance sheet in 2018 for pre-election expenditure ahead of Lok Sabha polls in the following year, former central bank deputy governor Viral Acharya said." The Wire. "It was effectively an attempt to ensure back-door monetisation of fiscal deficit by the central bank, he said." "Another reason for exerting pressure on RBI was the government's failure to raise divestment revenues. Divestment shortfall sought to be met via transfers from the RBI is an annual ritual now, he said." Looting the RBI. Splendid. Firstly, the RBI makes money from seigniorage, which is "the difference between the value of currency/ money and the cost of producing it. It is essentially the profit earned by the government by printing currency." ET. Secondly, "The RBI reportedly earns its profits primarily from the purchase and sale of government securities, the interest earned from lending to banks and an interest earned on bond holdings earned on open market principles." indiatimes.com. Unable to resist government bullying, the then Governor of RBI Urjit Patel resigned prematurely in December 2018. ET. Prof Viral Acharya also resigned his post as deputy governor 6 months prematurely. BT. The present Governor of the RBI Shaktikanta Das, a retired IAS officer, was appointed in December 2018. wikipedia. In September 2019, the RBI transferred Rs 1.76 trillion of apparently surplus reserves to the government. TOI. In May 2021, "The RBI's central board has approved a higher than expected surplus transfer of 991.22 billion rupees ($13.58 billion) to the government, it said in a statement." HT. This enormous surplus accrued in just 9 months as the RBI moved its accounting year to April-March from July-June, to synchronise it with the official financial year. "Making monetary policy is often like flying blind due to the lagged information in growth and inflation.., RBI deputy governor Michael Debabrata Patra said." ET. Which is why, "(Governor) Das' lack of formal education in economics has proven to be a gift that allows him to make unconventional choices with great success." The Print. Absolutely. Under Das the RBI has kept interest rate as low as possible. Interest rate was kept at 4% for 24 months from May 2020 to May 2022 (NDTV), even though India's CPI inflation rate jumped to 5.5% in October 2019 and was running above RBI's tolerance level of 6% till April 2022, when it was 7.8%. RI. Now, the RBI has held on to 6.5% interest rate since February (BT), even though the inflation rate in July jumped to 7.4% and then fell to 6.83% In August. ET. Instead the RBI has reduced liquidity through incremental cash reserve ratio (ICRR) which forces banks to keep 10% of their Net Demand and Time Liabilities as cash reserve with the RBI, instead of 4.5% as at present. Hindu. The RBI will not pay any interest on this deposit but will charge 6.75% interest if banks borrow from it. This was a master-stroke, admired Madan Sabnavis. The government loots the RBI, the RBI loots commercial banks. Who pays?