MUMBAI: For the first time since March 2025, RBI on Wednesday rejected all the 224 bids in the three treasury-bill (T-bill) auctions through which govt was set to borrow Rs 23,000 crore.Due to a tight fund-flow situation in the system, on the back of a high govt balance, GST-related outflows and funds getting blocked primarily in the Jio Platforms IPO, bidders wanted higher rates in the auction, bond market players said.On the other hand, RBI was reluctant to pay high rates because this could have indicated elevated rate signalling for the short term by the central bank. What helped RBI’s cause was the high cash balance with govt which was at about Rs 5.3 lakh crore. With govt flush with cash and not in immediate need of funds, RBI could afford to reject all bids in the T-bill auction, a bond dealer said. This decision by the central bank gels well with its policy narrative of ‘calibrated tightening’.In Wednesday’s auction, RBI had received 77 bids for 91-day T-bills worth Rs 8,000 crore, 68 bids for 182-day T-bills and 79 bids for 364-day T-bills.
