Which of the following are the sources of income for the Reserve Bank of India? I. Buying and selling Government bonds II. Buying and selling foreign currency III. Pension fund management IV. Lending to private companies V. Printing and distributing currency notes Select the correct answer using the code given below.

Lists RBI's explicit sources of income (foreign currency asset interest, interest on government securities, lending at repo, commission as debt manager, seigniorage) and does not mention income from managing pension funds.

A student could note the absence of 'pension fund management' in an itemised income list and check external official RBI accounts or mandate documents to see if pension management is within RBI's revenue activities.

Describes the RBI's legal mandate to manage foreign exchange reserves and enumerates the types of instruments it may invest in under the RBI Act.

One could compare the RBI Act's authorised investment instruments with typical pension-fund mandates to judge whether RBI's legal remit commonly includes third‑party pension fund management.

Gives RBI's organisational structure and lists its four fully owned subsidiaries; none are described as pension fund managers.

A student could infer that if RBI earned pension-management income at scale it might be through a subsidiary—so checking subsidiary mandates and absence of pension entities suggests pension management is unlikely.

Explains the Employees' Pension Scheme (EPS) under the EPF framework, indicating pension provision is organised under the EPF/Ministry side rather than via central bank functions.

Using this, a student could contrast institutional responsibility for pensions (EPFO/Ministry) with central bank functions to assess whether RBI typically manages pension funds.

Describes seigniorage and interest income mechanisms tied to currency issuance and bank reserves—illustrating the typical, monetary-policy-related sources of central bank income.

A student could use this pattern (central banks earn from monetary/reserve operations) to argue that pension‑management income would be atypical and thus should appear in official income descriptions if present.

Lists RBI's sources of income and explicitly names 'Lending at Repo rate to banks' among them but does not mention lending to private companies.

A student could take this omission plus the explicit listing as a clue that RBI's routine lending counterparties are banks (not private firms) and then check external facts about RBI's lender-of-last-resort operations versus commercial lending.

Explains that RBI mandates banks to lend to certain sectors (priority sector lending), showing RBI channels credit through commercial banks rather than directly providing retail or sectoral loans.

One could extend this by noting that if RBI uses banks to reach sectors, it is less likely to be directly lending to private companies; check external rules about central bank direct lending to non-bank entities.

Question/answer about CRR increase includes the proposition that RBI policy actions affect how much commercial banks can lend, implying RBI influences credit supply indirectly through banks rather than by directly lending to end borrowers.

A student can combine this pattern (policy transmission via banks) with knowledge of standard central bank operations to infer that direct lending to private companies is not the typical channel.

Notes RBI's developmental role and its historical focus on catalysing finance for development (e.g., agriculture), suggesting RBI may support development but not specifying direct lending to private firms.

Using this, a student could distinguish between RBI's development role (which could be executed via policy, regulation, or directed lending through banks) and direct commercial lending — then look up external examples of how central banks usually operationalise development roles.