India's central government plans to borrow Rs 6.55 trillion ($78.72 billion) via bonds from the market during the October-March period, the Reserve Bank of India said in a statement on Tuesday. In response to market demand for ultra-long duration securities, the RBI has decided to introduce a new dated security of 50-year tenor, the central bank said. The borrowing plan for the second-half of the fiscal year will include issuance of government green bonds worth Rs 20,000 crore.
The government said the borrowing will be done through bonds with tenures of three, five, seven, 10, 14, 30 and 40 years.
India has projected gross market borrowing at Rs 15.43 trillion rupees for the current fiscal year ending March 31, 2024, of which it has borrowed Rs 8.88 trillion between April and September.
The unchanged market borrowing could come as a relief to bond markets as some traders were expecting additional bond sales amid expectations the government may loosen purse strings ahead of next year’s Lok Sabha elections. Tax collections have been strong so far this year while small savings deposits are also up sharply. India's net direct tax collection between April 1 and September 16, 2023, stood at Rs 8.65 lakh crore, up 23.5 per cent on an annualised basis, recent data showed.
“Bond yields may only drop a couple points tomorrow because these numbers are on expected lines,” said Nagarajan. The 50-year bond will be well-bid as there may be good demand from insurance companies, Murthy Nagarajan, head of fixed income at Tata Asset Management told Bloomberg. The 10-year bond yield fell one basis points to 7.14% on Tuesday.
In a departure from the past, the RBI today said that "in consultation with the Government of India, will continue to have the flexibility to bring about modifications" in the borrowing calendar "in terms of notified amount, issuance period, maturities, etc. and to issue different types of instruments, including instruments having non-standard maturity, floating rate bonds (FRBs), CPI linked inflation indexed bonds (IIBs), depending upon the requirement of the Government of India, evolving marke ..
India's inclusion in the index will happen in June 2024, and it will join the index with a weight 1%. The weight will consequently increase by 1% each month, till April 2025, to reach an aggregate weight of 10%. India will be the second largest emerging market country in the index, after China.
"Greater foreign participation in India's bond market is likely to favourably influence India's macro-economic indicators. In the short term, we expect India’s balance of payments surplus to rise, external funding pressures on the currency to lessen and liquidity to increase. Over ..
Source Name : Economic Times