The Union government's recourse to ways and means advances (WMA) has shown a marked decline to Rs 3,679 crore as on July 24 from Rs 7,681 crore in the previous week.
The Centre had raised Rs 4,000 crore from the market through the issue of government securities for six and ten years on July 23 and the dip in WMA could be attributed to this.
The net Reserve Bank of India (RBI) credit to the Central government has also declined by Rs 2,693 crore over the previous week and stood at Rs 16,028 crore for the financial year till July 24 against Rs 18,721 crore which was the net RBI credit to the Centre as on July 17. Correspondingly, there has been a slide in reserve money by 1.8 per cent, which stood at Rs 2,24,796 crore as on July 24.
Reserve money growth for the financial year so far has shown a reversal, declining by Rs 1,438 crore against an increase by Rs 1,337 crore as on July 17.
Money supply (M3) has grown by 0.2 per cent or Rs 1,494 crore in the fortnight ending July 17, registering a slower growth than 0.3 per cent, or Rs 2,145 seen in the previous fortnight ending July 3. The year-on-year growth in M3 was 17.3 per cent.
The foreign exchange reserves of the country have declined marginally by $34 million or Rs 138 crore during the week to stand at $ 27.08 billion as on July 31. Of this, foreign exchange assets have declined by $92 million.
The stock of gold increased by $11 million and that of SDRs by $47 million during the week. These were at $3,031 million and $ 56 million, respectively, as on July 31.
The aggregate deposits of the banking sector has grown by 0.3 per cent or Rs 1,967 crore for the fortnight ended July 17. Deposits stood at Rs 6,25,575 crore as of this date. Bank credit showed a positive growth of 0.3 per cent for the fortnight which was at Rs 3,22,927 crore as of July 17. Investments have declined by 1.2 per cent or Rs 2,911 crore and this stood at Rs 2,35,506 crore.
The amount of 364-day treasury bills outstanding as on July 29 dipped to Rs 8,350 crore from Rs 9,174 crore as on July 15.
The stock of 364-day treasury bills with the banks declined from Rs 8,832 crore as on July 17 to Rs 7,963 crore as on July 24, while that with the apex bank was unchanged.
There has been a redemption of a 364-day treasury bill by the central bank since then and also a fresh auction for a notified amount of Rs 200 crore which was taken up fully by the market.
