Mumbai, March 17 The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) injected ₹48,014 crore in short-term liquidity into the banking system on Tuesday through a seven-day variable rate repo (VRR) auction.
These funds were injected at a cut-off rate and a weighted average rate of 5.26 per cent, according to the RBI's statement.
The liquidity injected was significantly lower than the notified amount of ₹1.50 lakh crore, despite the sharp decrease in surplus liquidity in the banking system due to advance tax payments.
Under the VRR auction, the central bank auctions funds at variable interest rates for a short period, allowing banks to bid for a certain amount.
Liquidity in the banking system is expected to further tighten after outflows related to the Goods and Services Tax (GST), which is scheduled for later this week.
Currently, liquidity in the banking system is estimated to be around ₹75,483.63 crore as of March 16, which is significantly lower than ₹2.08 lakh crore as of March 15, before the advance tax payouts.
The RBI has injected ₹3.50 lakh crore of durable liquidity into the banking system through open market purchases (OMP) of government securities since January 2026.
In the recent months, the RBI has been injecting liquidity into the banking system to keep overnight rates under control.
This has led to overnight rates remaining significantly below the repo rate.