Central banks aim to achieve price stability by adjusting interest rates to meet their inflation target. However, when a central bank also manages the government debt, tightening policy rates raises borrowing costs, thereby increasing the probability of debt distress. To understand the nature of this trade-off, we examine how policy rate changes by the Reserve Bank of India affect the Government of India’s actual borrowing costs. Using monthly data from 2004 to 2025 and an ARDL error-correction framework, we estimate the differential impact of policy rate on both primary and secondary markets and find a clear divergence. In secondary markets, pass-through is gradual and declines with maturity, whereas in the primary markets, transmission is immediate and near-complete, and it remains durably anchored to the policy rate in the long run. We interpret this as a distinctive feature of India’s institutional arrangement, where captive investors and the

RBI’s discretionary authority over auctions keep sovereign borrowing costs closely tied to monetary policy.

Monetary policy transmission in primary and secondary markets: Evidence from Indian government securities, Swayamshree Barik, Manish K. Singh, Harsh Vardhan, XKDR Forum Working Paper 48, March 2026.