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No proposal to cut repo rate: RBI

June 27, 2003 14:14 IST

RBI Governor Bimal JalanReserve Bank of India Governor Bimal Jalan said on Friday that there was no proposal to lower the short-term benchmark repo rate now.

"Not right now," Jalan told reporters, when asked if there was any such proposal, but also said that the repo rate stance was soft.

Repo, or repurchase agreements, are secured short-term -- usually 15-day -- loans by one bank to another against government securities.

His comments came after the US Federal Reserve cut the Fed funds rate on Wednesday by a quarter percentage point to a 45-year-low of one percent, citing hopeful economic signs for not having made a deeper cut.

Before the Fed meeting, local bond traders had speculated that a US cut could induce the Reserve Bank of India to lower the repo rate from 5 percent in order to moderate arbitrage-induced foreign investments.

Jalan also told reporters that the extra government borrowings announced on Thursday were in anticipation of requirements and were not a liquidity mopping exercise.

Late on Thursday, the finance ministry said the RBI would auction Rs 12,000 crore (Rs 120 billion) of bonds on July 1, Rs 3,000 core (Rs 30 billion) more than initially scheduled for July 1-7.

The ministry also increased the amount it will issue in July 14-21 to Rs 9,000 core (Rs 90 billion) from the Rs 5,000 crore (Rs 50 billion) set in the issuances calendar released in April.

"It is in anticipation that that much is required," Reserve Jalan told reporters.

"It is not for that specific exercise," Jalan told reporters, when asked if the extra borrowing was intended to suck out excess liquidity.

"Market conditions are good, so if the government needs more money, it can be raised."


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