RBI Raises Daily CRR Requirement to 99%, Plans ₹25,000 Crore Bond Sale

The Reserve Bank of India has announced stricter liquidity management measures, raising the minimum daily cash reserve ratio (CRR) maintenance requirement from 90% to 99%, effective from the reporting fortnight beginning October 16, 2026. The move follows a 25-basis-point increase in the policy repo rate to 5.50%, marking the first rate hike in two-and-a-half years.

Under the revised rules, banks must maintain at least 99% of their prescribed CRR requirement daily during the reporting fortnight, while also ensuring their average CRR balance over the fortnight meets the full 3% of applicable deposits. This higher daily maintenance threshold reduces banks' flexibility in managing short-term liquidity. The RBI previously implemented a 99% daily CRR requirement in July 2013 during currency market turbulence linked to the US Federal Reserve's taper tantrum, later relaxing it to 95% in September 2013 and 90% in April 2016.

The central bank has also scheduled an open market operation (OMO) sale of government securities worth ₹25,000 crore on October 13 to absorb surplus banking liquidity. The banking system held surplus liquidity of ₹3.88 lakh crore as of October 8. The RBI aims to bring the weighted average call rate (WACR) closer to the 5.50% policy repo rate, with the WACR standing at 5.31% on Friday.