RBI Announces Rs. 50,000 crore Special Liquidity Facility for Mutual Funds vide press release 2019-2020/2276 dated 27th April, 2020. In view of the situation arising due to the COVID-19 pandemic and extended lockdown period.
Why RBI Announced such Measure?
• Heightened volatility in capital markets
• Liquidity strains on mutual funds (MFs),
• Redemption pressures related to the closure of some debt MFs
• Potential contagious effects
• To mitigate the economic impact of COVID-19 and preserve financial stability
Scheme Applicability:
The scheme is available from today i.e., April 27, 2020 till May 11, 2020, or up to utilization of the allocated amount, whichever is earlier.
Key Highlights of the Scheme:
• With a view to easing liquidity pressures on MFs, it has been decided to open a special liquidity facility for mutual funds of ` 50,000 crore
• Under the SLF-MF, the RBI shall conduct repo operations of 90 days tenor at the fixed repo rate
• Banks can submit their bids to avail of funding on any day from Monday to Friday (excluding holidays).
• The Reserve Bank will review the timeline and amount,depending upon market conditions.
• Liquidity support would be eligible to be classified as held to maturity (HTM) even in excess of 25% of total investment permitted to be included in the HTM portfolio.
Note: Support extended to MFs under the SLF-MF shall be exempted from banks’ capital market exposure limits.
Utilization of Funds
Funds availed under the SLF-MF shall be used by banks exclusively for meeting the liquidity requirements of MFs by
(1) extending loans, and
(2) undertaking outright purchase of and/or repos against the collateral of investment grade corporate bonds, commercial papers (CPs), debentures and certificates of Deposit (CDs) held by MFs
How to Avail Benefits:
• This special repo window will be available to all LAF eligible banks and can be availed only for on-lending to Mutual funds
• The eligible banks may place their bids electronically on the CBS platform between 9 AM and 12.00 Noon every day
• The bidding process, settlement and reversal of SLF-MF repo would be similar to the existing system being followed in case of LAF/MSF.
• In case of over-subscription of the notified amount on any given day, the allotment will be done on pro-rata basis.
• The minimum bid amount would be Rupees one crore and multiples thereof. The allotment would be in multiples of Rupees one crore.
• A market participant can place bids of amount less than or equal to the notified amount of the issue announced on a given day.
• The eligible collateral and the applicable haircuts will remain the same as applicable for LAF.
Note: While banks will decide the tenor of lending to /repo with mutual funds, the minimum tenor of repo with RBI will be for a period of three months.
Source: https://rbidocs.rbi.org.in/rdocs/PressRelease/PDFs/PR22761B4E43FCBED94A12955FD65458EBEEDA.PDF
Disclaimer: IN NO EVENT THE AUTHOR SHALL BE LIABLE FOR ANY DIRECT, INDIRECT, SPECIAL OR INCIDENTAL DAMAGE RESULTING FROM OR ARISING OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE USE OF THIS INFORMATION.
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