More Stories

Informist, Friday, Mar. 20, 2026

 

By J. Navya Sruthi

 

MUMBAI – Uncertainty in the market and barely any liquidity surplus kept investors away from the market and hence volume in the secondary market fell sharply from the previous day. Rates on commercial papers and certificates of deposits remained steady due to a lack of fresh cues, dealers said. 

 

Trading volume of CDs in the secondary market was INR 95.37 billion Friday, sharply down from INR 201.85 billion Wednesday. Trading volume of CPs was INR 54.10 billion, significantly higher than INR 138.95 billion Wednesday. Money markets were shut on Thursday on account of Gudhi Padwa.  

 

"Liquidity is low, there is uncertainty about war (in West Asia), and crude prices are also high. All these factors are keeping investors away because of which volumes are low," an analyst at a domestic brokerage firm said. Rates were also steady from the previous day due to lack of new cues and lower participation, dealers said.  

 

In the secondary market, rates on one-year CDs were steady from the previous day at 7.10%. Rates on three-month CDs were unchanged from the previous day at 7.30% and those on six-month CDs were also steady at 7.35%. On the commercial paper side, indicative rates for three-month CPs issued by non-banking finance companies were steady at 7.35%.

 

Dealers said mutual funds were selling three-month papers and adding one-year papers to their portfolios due to higher returns. "Mostly mutual funds are participating in primary market to add three-month segment (papers) to their portfolio and sell later," a dealer at a state-owned bank said. 

 

However, dealers expect rates on three-month and six-month papers to rise next week as the systemic liquidity is likely to be in deficit after outflows of around INR 1.8 trillion for goods and services tax payments. They expect rates to remain higher until inflows through month-end government spending for salaries and pensions start. 

 

The proxy for liquidity surplus, which is the net liquidity absorbed by the RBI from the banking system, was INR 168.75 billion Thursday, sharply down from INR 273.97 billion Wednesday. The liquidity surplus remains the lowest since Jan. 22 and systemic liquidity likely fell into deficit Friday, market participants said. 

 

--Primary market

* Indian Bank raised INR 10 bln via three-month CD at 7.30%

 

--Secondary market

* Indian Overseas Bank's CD maturing Monday was traded five times at a weighted average yield of 5.5018%

* Cholamandalam Investment And Finance Co. Ltd.'s CP maturing Monday was traded once at a weighted average yield of 5.4044%

 

The following were the volumes, in INR billion, in the secondary market for short-term debt at 1700 IST, as detailed by the Clearing Corp. of India's F-TRAC platform:

 

Certificates of deposit		Commercial paper
Friday	Wednesday	Friday	Wednesday
95.37	201.85	54.10	138.95

 

End

 

IST, or Indian Standard Time, is five-and-a-half hours ahead of GMT

 

Edited by Deepshikha Bhardwaj

 

For users of real-time market data terminals, Informist news is available exclusively on the NSE Cogencis WorkStation.

 

Cogencis news is now Informist news. This follows the acquisition of Cogencis Information Services Ltd. by NSE Data & Analytics Ltd., a 100% subsidiary of the National Stock Exchange of India Ltd. As a part of the transaction, the news department of Cogencis has been sold to Informist Media Pvt. Ltd.

 

Informist Media Tel +91 (22) 6985-4000 /+91 (11) 4220-1000

Send comments to feedback@informistmedia.com

 

© Informist Media Pvt. Ltd. 2026. All rights reserved.