In any case, the financial cost of sterilisation is in the nature of a quasi-fiscal cost: if it is borne by the central bank, profit transfer to the government reduces to that extent; if it is directly borne by the government, it is reflected in the budget.
In addition, if sterilisation is done through raising unremunerated cash reserve ratio (CRR), the cost is borne by commercial banks, though they may benefit from easy liquidity. In its intervention operations, the Reserve Bank followed a cost sharing approach with the financial costs shared by the RBI, government and commercial banks.