Mumbai, March 6
The RBI’s move to inject Rs 1.9 lakh crore has come as a big positive for banks, which is reflected in the rise in the stock prices of both private and public sector banks, as well as Non-Banking Financial Companies (NBFCs) on Thursday.
The Nifty PSU Bank index rose 1.46 per cent, or 86.3 points to hit an intraday high of 5,976.75, while the Nifty Bank index increased 0.72 per cent, adding 349.15 points to hit an intraday high of 48,839.10. Similarly, the Nifty Private Bank index recorded a gain of up to 0.67 per cent in morning trade.
As part of the measures to infuse more liquidity in the banking system, the RBI has announced that it will conduct open market operation (OMO) purchases of government securities worth Rs 1 lakh crore in two tranches of Rs 50,000 crore each. The first auction will be held on March 12 and the second by March 18.
Besides, the central bank has also decided to hold a dollar-rupee buy/sell swap auction of $10 billion for 36 months to be held on March 24.
The measures are expected to infuse additional liquidity of Rs 1.9 lakh crore. The move comes ahead of an anticipation of tight liquidity conditions by the end of the current financial year (FY25) amid tax outflows and banks rushing to meet targets.