RBI coughs up a little cash, Sensex forecasts

A report this week that the RBI will transfer an “interim” dividend to the government has been wrongly linked by some to the government’s efforts to get the central bank to hand over more of its cash to the finance ministry. Such transfers are a regular occurrence and this year’s does not seem out of the ordinary. By contrast, the high-level panel that was formed to recommend the optimum scale of future dividend payments met for the first time this week but isn’t expected to report its conclusions until April. The RBI could still lose this fight with the government and, if it does, its perceived independence will be damaged.