India's Bank Liquidity Surplus Rises After A Sharp Drop Last Week

India's banking system liquidity surplus rose to more than Rs 2 trillion on Wednesday, after dropping to a near three-year low below 500 billion rupees ($6.34 billion) last week.

The surplus rose more than four times to Rs 2.02 trillion, compared with last week, as inflows from the government's month-end spending helped, according to traders.

"After the tax outflows there was an acute liquidity crunch with most of the banks, but with month-end inflows coming in, the situation is far better now," a trader with a private bank said.

The one-day interbank call money rate was 4.80 per cent at 0640 GMT, compared with the previous close of 4.40%, while the overnight triparty repo dealing system, or TREPS, was at 4.52 per cent, flat from its previous close.

"The next set of outflows would be the non-Goods and Services Tax payments that will go out from the system later in the week, but surplus should remain above 1 trillion rupees in the near term," according to a trader with a private bank.

(Reuters)