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  The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on Wednesday took a series of liquidity-boosting and loan-relief measures to aid broad swathes of the economy walloped by the second wave of the covid-19 pandemic. Governor Shaktikanta Das said RBI will make available an on-tap liquidity window of ?50,000 crore, with a tenor of up to three years, under which banks can provide fresh lending support to a wide range of entities, including vaccine makers, importers of vaccines, covid-related drugs and priority medical devices, hospitals, pathology labs, manufacturers and suppliers of oxygen and ventilators, logistics firms and also to patients for treatment. This facility, which will be offered at the repo rate, will be available till 31 March 2022. The steps are likely to help the stressed healthcare industry expand facilities to treat more patients amid the rampaging second wave. With thousands of sick people seeking treatment, hospitals are overwhelmed and are running out of medical-grade oxygen. Va...

  Unlike monetary policy, which is conducted under the explicit mandate of inflation targeting, foreign exchange management is left to the discretion of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI). For many years now, RBI has maintained that it does not target any value of the Rupee, and only steps in at times to control some unstated measure of currency volatility. However, the sheer magnitude and nature of RBI intervention leaves it as a substantial determinant of currency market rates, irrespective of its stated policy or intent. And the central bank’s role in the currency market has been manifesting in a major way particularly over the past few months. The core of RBI’s intervention policy through FY21 was excellent. It acted as a volatility heat sink amidst massive foreign exchange inflows. It prevented excessive rupee overvaluation that could have impeded India’s domestic output, employment, and the prospects of the Atmanirbhar Bharat tilt. However, aspects of the impossible trinity—the ...