Reserve Bank of India (RBI) injects Rs 2.90 lakh crore liquidity via bond buys and USD swap

Key facts

• RBI will buy Rs 2 lakh crore of government bonds through open market operations in four tranches of Rs 50,000 crore each.
• RBI will conduct a $10-billion buy/sell swap auction on Jan. 13 to ease dollar liquidity.
• System liquidity turned negative mid-December, driving the weighted average call rate to 5.46%, above the 5.25% repo rate.
• Between December 11 and 18, RBI had infused Rs 1.45 lakh crore through OMOs and a $5-billion swap.
• Power Finance Corp scrapped a Rs 6,000-crore bond sale after bids came in at higher-than-expected coupons.
• The 10-year benchmark yield has risen 20 basis points since Dec. 5 despite a quarter percentage point policy rate cut.
• State governments collectively raised Rs 33,720 crore through bond sales on Tuesday at cutoff yields higher than expected.
• Bank of India raised Rs 10,000 crore long term infrastructure bonds at 7.23%.