Monetary Policy and Role of Banks

February 2015

The Federal Reserve has been pumping in huge amounts into the US economy by way of Open
Market Operations (OMOs) for the last few years. It bought securities from market players and
injected dollar liquidity into the system. As a result, the Feds balance sheet had gone up from
USD 900 billion to almost USD 4.3 trillion in a matter of just about 3-4 years, which means it has
gone up to almost 5 times of its original size. This amount is almost 2.5 times the GDP of India,
which is roughly USD 1.8 trillion. This is expected that this liquidity would eventually trigger
growth impulses in the US economy through increased manufacturing activity and employment
generation. This employment generation would automatically add to the income and spending
capacity in the system, and that would propel consumer activity in the economy. The latest initial
jobless claims number is pretty low. These are indicative of the fact that manufacturing activity
and employment generation in the US is picking up.
When a major advanced economy like US pumps in so much liquidity into the system, it finds its
way across the world as there is no capital account convertibility restriction on the dollar. The
dollar moves seamlessly across the world and finds residence in attractive emerging market
economies. The emerging market economies attract this capital due to a huge growth potential,
and because they command a higher rate of interest. The interest rate differential between US
and India today stands at 750 basis points (7.5%). Even junk bonds in US dont give a return of
more than 4%, whereas risk-free government securities in India return 7.75%. This is an
enormous differential, which attracts huge amounts of foreign flows into the country. As a result,
India has been attracting a huge amount of forex flows (other than in July-Oct 2013, when the
Federal Reserve announced the tapering of the quantitative easing program; that sent shock
tremors across the world, and most of the emerging market economies were very severely
affected by it). Last year India attracted USD 42 billion into equity and debt. This is a very
important source of monetary policy dilemma for India, as it needs to evaluate its economic
absorption capacity for these flows.
For the last few years, India has been grappling with high inflation, high Current Account Deficit
(CAD) and low growth rate at the same time. A year back, CPI inflation was at almost 12%. The
CAD had touched a record high of 6.7% in the fourth quarter of 2012-13. For the complete year,
India ran a CAD of USD 88 billion. RBI had to hold the interest rates at very high levels in order
to tame inflation, which made India a very attractive market for the FIIs. The resultant inflows
were in turn pushing the inflation rate higher. These flows were however required to offset the
high CAD, which can only be financed through foreign direct investments, foreign portfolio
investment, non-resident deposits, external commercial borrowings (ECBs) and remittances. If
RBI had lowered the interest rates as a policy response, the forex flows would have lessened,
but the lower interest rates would have contributed to increased inflation. Even a lock-in period
for the foreign investments would not have helped, as that would have stopped the flows and
financing CAD would have become difficult.
Compared to a year back, the position is far better today. The WPI inflation is close to zero and
the CPI inflation is in the 5-6% range. CAD has come down to almost 1.5%. In 2014-15, it is

expected to come down to USD 25 billion, and may even turn into a marginal surplus due to low
oil prices.
Some of these conflicts are created due to the inherent structure of Indias economy. In India,
the latent demand is enormous. The purchasing power of the people is quite low. If there is a
huge rupee liquidity inflow into the system, the purchasing power would go up, there would be a
huge demand for consumer and durable goods, and inflation would immediately shoot up. It is
completely different from the European or Japanese economies. Japan is trying its level best to
increase the inflation rate and targeting it at 2%. They are trying to transmit the impulses of the
monetary policy across the credit and money markets in a big way, but its not happening. The
reason is the demography of Japan. It is skewed in favour of older people, whose spending
capacity is pretty low, as they are living mostly on pensions. The result is that demand cannot
be spruced up in a big way. On the other hand, India has a huge young population and unmet
demand due to poverty. Anytime liquidity flows in to the system and gets transformed into
income for the population, demand will increase and hence will inflation. When Russia was
faced with a currency speculative attack, it raised interest rates by 650 basis points (6.5%; 100
basis points = 1%) in one stroke from 10.5% to 17% to attract forex flows. That was a desperate
measure. Thankfully, India is not placed in a similar situation. Today India can calibrate its
monetary policy because of the comfort provided by the macroeconomic policy parameters.
Amongst the various monetary policy instruments, the major ones are the LAF (Liquidity
Adjustment Facility), Term Repo, Open Market Operations (OMO) and Cash Reserve Ratio
(CRR). LAF consists of the Reverse Repo (which is the lowest point), the Repo (which is the
mid-point) and the MSF (Marginal Standing Facility, which is the topmost point). The corridor
within which RBI is operating for the purpose of monetary policy can be represented by the
following graph:

MSF

Repo

Reverse Repo

8.75% (repo rate + 1%)

7.75%

6.75% (Repo rate 1%)

This band between the reverse repo rate (6.75%) and the MSF rate (8.75%) is called the
Interest Rate Corridor. The RBI operates within this Interest Rate Corridor. The Repo rate is the

policy rates that RBI changes; the other two rates adjust automatically. The corridor moves up
or down, but the width of the corridor stays the same (200 basis points).

Fix Range LAF Rates

Bank Rate

Repo

Reverse

Cash Reserve
Ratio

Effective Date

04-03-2015

8.50

7.50

6.50

Marginal
Standing
Facility

Statut
ory
Liquid
ity
Ratio

8.50

07-02-2015

21.50

15-01-2015

8.75

7.75

6.75

8.75

09-08-2014

22.00

14-06-2014

22.50

28-01-2014

9.00

8.00

7.00

9.00

29-10-2013

8.75

7.75

6.75

8.75

07-10-2013

9.00

9.00

20-09-2013

9.50

7.50

6.50

9.50

15-07-2013

10.25

10.25

03-05-2013

8.25

7.25

6.25

8.25

19-03-2013

8.50

7.50

6.50

8.50

09-02-2013

4.00

29-01-2013

8.75

7.75

6.75

8.75

Source : RBI

Some of the most important policy drivers for interest rates are:
1. Inflation- Inflation is the most important policy driver. With the softening of inflation, RBI
lowered the interest rates, and thereby gave a trigger to demand. If RBI gives this trigger
when inflation is high, inflation will increase further on the back of increased spending.
Hence inflation has to be low for RBI to reduce rates.
2. Output gap -The country is still operating with a sufficient amount of output gap. That
means the country is operating at a level lower than its full potential. So when RBI
lowers the interest rates, people start operating the unused capacity and produce more
goods that would be consumed without creating any excess capacity. This would ensure
that inflation does not go up as a result of the rate cut. Further, in future, as the excess
capacity is utilised and interest rates remain low, even more capital expenditure takes
place through bank loans and the overall investment increases. The result is creation of
even more capacity that creates a buffer of output gap for the future.

3. Growth Presently, growth is floundering in India. The manufacturing activity has

calmed down considerably, so unless interest rates are brought down, there is no
incentive to borrow from banks. RBI tried to give a pep to the manufacturing activity by
bringing down interest rates.
4. Operating target In order to analyse if the policy is getting transmitted to the system,
RBIs first point of reference is the call money market. It also looks at the CBLO
(Collateralized Borrowing and Lending Obligation) market, market repos, Commercial
Papers (CPs) and CDs. These are the major instruments in the money market. The
average daily turnover in these instruments are - Call money Rs.15,000 crores, CBLORs. 75,000 crores, Repo- Rs.30,000 crores, CPs Rs.3000 crores, CDs 7,000 crores.
The weighted average call money rate is the policy operating target.

Role banks can play in this mechanism

Most banks are holding excess SLR securities (instead of the mandated 21.5%, the current
holding is 28.5%). Each percentage represents Rs.80,000 crores today, which translates into
Rs.5,60,000 crores of excess SLR securities. A good part of this is in the hands of PSBs. These
excess securities can be used by banks in a way that is profitable to banks and helps in a faster
transmission of the monetary policy. Normally, if a bank is running a liquidity shortfall on a
particular day, it borrows from RBIs LAF window on a collateralized basis (only excess SLR
held in the form of GoI securities and State Government securities is eligible). If a bank has
excess SLR at the time of a rate cut, it can borrow upto 0.25% of its Demand & Time Liabilities
(DTL) at the LAF rate from RBI, and on-lend it to other banks in the call money market at the
higher prevalent rate, thus realising a profit. This would help the monetary policy to be
transmitted to the call money market gradually.
Second part of the transmission is CPs. Banks can and do invest in CPs as an alternate to
working capital loans. When corporates are able to float CPs at new rates in line with the
monetary policy, transmission is seen to have taken place. This transmission can be brought
about by borrowing in LAF against excess SLR securities and investing in CPs. However, and
additional factor to be taken care of in these deals is the ALM mismatch. Whether banks borrow
in LAF overnight or in term repo for 14 days, it would need to create an equivalent maturity
asset. Otherwise the investment will have to be made in accordance with the gap available in
the various maturity buckets. These can be actively explored, and will help the transmission of
the monetary policy.

No. 29: Average Daily Turnover in Select Financial Markets

(` Billion)
Item
1 Call Money
2 Notice Money
3 Term Money
4 CBLO
5 Market Repo
6 Repo in Corporate Bond
7 Forex (US $ million)
8 Govt. of India Dated
Securities
9 State Govt. Securities
10 Treasury Bills
10.1 91-Day
10.2 182-Day
10.3 364-Day
10.4 Cash Management Bills
11 Total Govt. Securities
(8+9+10)
11.1 RBI

Dec.
26
3
210.7
92.1
5.3
1,125.2
949.4

44,460

Jan. 2

Jan. 9

1
230.7
71.6
5.4
1,196.3
986.8
0.3
50,568

Jan.
31
2
218.8
64.9
4.7
1,117.9
745.8

56,252

4
258.6
59.5
2.5
1,272.9
944.7

44,805

5
176.1
83.5
3.3
1,236.7
1,200.7

56,452

2015
Jan.
16
6
167.6
64.9
2.2
1,270.5
1,178.5

59,616

662.5

526.9

738.1

776.5

1,005.4

1,109.0

1,013.4

764.1

12.8

12.6

24.0

18.7

13.0

20.3

23.0

21.4

26.7
12.9
25.4
7.3

35.5
18.8
17.3

31.0
7.7
9.5

47.0
10.5
15.2

32.2
5.8
30.2

36.9
10.2
26.3

18.7
2.8
32.4

25.6
13.5
53.5

747.6

611.1

810.2

867.9

1,086.6

1,202.7

1,090.3

878.2

4.0

3.3

5.2

3.5

9.6

0.8

2.9

201314

2014

Jan.
23
7
209.7
79.1
4.7
1,134.6
1,372.7

55,311

Jan.
30
8
224.8
111.8
7.3
1,242.7
1,109.5

68,155

Source : RBI

Banks should manage this through a very active treasury. There is no shortage of talent pool in
the PSBs. However, the control systems and a reluctant attitude prevent banks from being
active in this area. The mark-to-market (MTM) risk of excess SLR securities can also be
managed by an active bank treasury through hedging instruments like Interest Rate Futures
(IRFs) and Overnight Index Swaps (OIS). The OIS market is dominated by 8-9 foreign banks,
despite the fact that all banks are allowed to deal in it. Even the private sector banks play a
subdued role. This is a culture that needs to be inculcated in PSBs. Banks should not plunge
recklessly into these markets, but with proper checks and controls, with defined open positions
for your dealers and for the treasury as a whole, banks should be able to take advantage of
these markets. This would augment the balance sheet without resulting in an NPA problem, and
the transmission mechanism in the system would improve considerably. Currently in India, the
transmission time is around 3-4 quarters for impacting inflation. Banks follow suit as per
circumstances over a period of time.
From a banks point of view, transmission is important, as monetary policy changes get reflected
in the balance sheet through the cost of funds that they borrow from RBI. It should hence get
reflected in cost of deposits and lending as well. If banks dont borrow from RBI at all, the
transmission is not going to seep through, except by way of moral suasion. Ultimately, the

transmission has to seep through the entire market instruments, especially as the market is very
active. If banks treasuries take an active part in these markets, they have enough opportunities
to take advantage of.
One of these areas is retail housing loans. These rates are highly interest rate sensitive, and the
passing on of a rate cut can help banks augment their balance sheet. While an excessively
large portfolio of retail mortgages is not recommended, the banking sector has not yet realised
the full potential of this segment. This sector plays a large role in kick starting the economy
through demand for steel, cement etc., and thus helps in realising the objective of a rate cut.
The other instruments of liquidity are Open Market Operations, Cash Reserve Ratio, and forex
market intervention.
Factors Affecting Liquidity
Banking today has become very complicated. Unless banks keep in touch with the day to day
developments, it becomes very difficult to take advantage of the emerging environment. Some
of the factors affecting liquidity that banks need to keep in touch with are:
Currency drain Withdrawal or deposit of cash from/with banks changes the liquidity
available in the banking system
Government of India (GoI) balances with RBI if GoI holds huge balances with RBI,
liquidity in the system dries up, if the balances are small, liquidity in the system goes up
Advance tax collections When corporates make advance tax payments, liquidity dry
up. When GoI pays coupons on G-Secs, liquidity goes up
Auction of Govt balances if RBI reduces rates on one hand and GoI is holding huge
balances with RBI on the other hand, the whole effect nullifies and the transmission gets
affected. As a part of the fixed rate and variable rate overnight repo, government
balances with RBI are auctioned to banks. Any auction increases the liquidity in the
system. If these balances can be disclosed to the market, the banks research desks
liquidity predictions can be more accurate.