RBI to infuse Rs 12,500 crore via OMOs on Thursday

Mumbai: The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) Tuesday said it would infuse Rs 12,500 crore into the system through open market operations on Thursday.

Based on an assessment of prevailing liquidity conditions and also of the durable liquidity needs going forward, the RBI has decided to conduct purchase of the government securities under open market operations (OMOs) for Rs 12,500 crore on March 14, the central bank said.

The purchase will happen through multi-security auction using the multiple price method.

There is an overall aggregate ceiling of Rs 12,500 crore for all the securities in the basket put together. There is no security-wise notified amount, it said.

The RBI said it reserves the right to decide on the quantum of purchase of individual securities and accept offers for less than the aggregate amount of Rs 12,500 crore or purchase marginally higher than the aggregate amount due to rounding-off effects.

It can also accept or reject any or all the offers either wholly or partially without assigning any reason, the RBI added.

OMOs are money market tools to infuse or suck out liquidity from the system. Where there is liquidity surplus, it sells securities to suck out money, while the reverse happens when there is a liquidity crunch in the system.