The stock of rupee securities (including ad hoc treasury bills) held by Reserve Bank of India increased by Rs 2,693 crore during the week ended January 9.
Figures published in the weekly statistical supplement by RBI reveal the central banks stock of government securities had increased to Rs 1,27,294 crore by January 9.
The year-on-year growth in stock of government securities held bythe Reserve Bank of India is Rs 25,384 crore while the increase in the current year is the region of Rs 12,000 crore.
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The rise in the stock of securities with RBI can be explained by the fact that the apex bank had been buying securities from the market till 10 days back.
The Reserve Bank had offered to buy securities with a view to providing support to prices in the secondary market.
The commercial banks have reshuffled their investment portfolio during the course of the third quarter of this financial year with their investment in government securities declining by Rs 3,095 crore.
This follows a Rs 17,001-crore increase in advances and a Rs 17,291-crore increase in the level of aggregate deposits.
By January 9, the net RBI credit to government was Rs 1,28,651 crore. During the week ended January 9, the net RBI credit to the government went up by Rs 3,275 crore.
The year-on-year growth in net RBI credit to government is Rs 8,146 crore which translates into a growth of 6.7 per cent. The increase in the current year is Rs 4,470 crore, translating to a growth of 3.6 percentage terms.
The point to note is that net Reserve Bank of India credit to the government had declined by Rs 10,487 crore over March levels at the end of the first half of the financial year.
Foreign currency assets (FCA) of the Reserve Bank of India declined by $291 million during the week-ended January 16, as against $ 369 million during the week-ended January 9.
During the first fortnight of January, there was no change in the value of gold held by RBI and stock of special drawing rights (SDR). The level of FCA has declined from was $23,722 million on January 9 to $23,431. The stock of gold was unchanged at $3,313 million and stock of SDRs was also unchanged at $5 million.
The level of foreign exchange reserves was $ 26,749 million on January 16.
Given the continuous depletion in forex reserves, during the current financial year, the accretion to the reserves in the first half is getting eroded and total foreign exchange reserves has increased only by $ 326 million. The year-on-year variation is $2,851 million.
The year-on-year money growth in money supply (M3) was 1.5 per cent on January 2, with the growth in the current financial year being 9.6 per cent. Reserve money grew by 2 per cent during the week ended January 2.