Synopsis

On October 13, the Reserve Bank of India plans to auction government securities valued at Rs 25,000 crore. This operation will present six distinct securities, each with maturities ranging between 2030 and 2034. The central bank will determine the accepted amounts and may opt for lower bids. At present, the banking sector holds a surplus liquidity estimated at approximately Rs 3.88 lakh crore.

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on Friday said it will conduct an open market operation (OMO) sale auction of government securities worth Rs 25,000 crore on October 13.

The central bank has offered six government securities for the auction, with maturities ranging from March 2030 to April 2034. These include 7.88 per cent government security (GS) 2030, 6.10 per cent GS 2031, 7.95 per cent GS 2032, 7.26 per cent GS 2033, 7.18 per cent GS 2033, and 7.10 per cent GS 2034, according to a notification.

The RBI has not specified individual sale amounts for the six securities and retains the discretion to decide the quantum of each security to be sold.

It may also accept bids for less than the notified aggregate amount and adjust the total sale marginally to account for rounding-off. The central bank reserves the right to accept or reject any or all bids, either wholly or partially, without assigning any reason.

OMO sales involve the sale of government securities by the central bank, which withdraws liquidity from the banking system in exchange for the securities.

Currently, liquidity in the banking system is estimated to be in surplus of around Rs 3.88 lakh crore as of October 8.

Since two months, the RBI has been doing various VRRR auctions to absorb excess surplus liquidity from the banking system and align the overnight money market rates to the repo rate.

The banking system was flushed with liquidity due to heavy mobilisation of FCNR (B) deposits by banks, as the mobilisation brought foreign currency into the system, while subsequent swaps with the RBI provided rupee liquidity to banks.

Besides FCNR(B) inflows, month-end government expenditure, including payments toward salaries and pensions, also added to liquidity in the banking system.

On October 6, RBI Governor Sanjay Malhotra, during the post-monetary policy press conference, said the huge banking system liquidity is to be absorbed within the current financial year through various means such as currency leakage, the Reserve Bank's liquidity operations, and banks' reserve requirements.

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