Macro desk · RBI money market operations, net liquidity injected (outstanding including today) · day to 29 Sep 2026
Banks' spare cash soaked up by RBI fell by more than half in the three weeks to 29 Sept, to Rs 466,404 crore
The RBI held Rs 466,404 crore of banks' spare cash on 29 Sept, down from Rs 479,892 crore the day before.
The pool of spare cash that banks park with RBI each night shrank by more than half through September. It does not reach savers directly, but it is the plumbing under liquid funds, fixed-deposit rates and every lender that borrows short-term.
Published daily. The page it is printed on at rbi.org.in.
The surplus cash banks park with RBI shrank from Rs 1,116,006 crore on 6 Sept to Rs 466,404 crore on 29 Sept, a fall of Rs 649,602 crore. We can't say yet why; a breakdown of where the cash went, whether out of the banking system or into other parking places, would settle it.
Why we think so3 reasons
On what grounds?
- The first reason is where the surplus now sits. What banks left in the standing deposit window fell by Rs 44,034 crore on 29 Sept, while RBI's overnight reverse repo auction on 28 Sept took Rs 111,711 crore, up Rs 39,740 crore on its previous auction. Our guess, labelled Inferred: part of the fall in one parking place is RBI steering cash into another. These figures cannot tell that apart from cash leaving the banking system altogether; the chart below shows the two side by side.
- That is about where the cash went; the second reason is about what it costs. Overnight call money averaged 5.08 percent, down 0.03 percentage points, and the triparty repo rate did not move at all. A system truly running dry would show it in these rates first, and they are calm.
- Both of those point to a surplus that is smaller but still there; the third reason is about who feels it. Banks borrowed Rs 5,880 crore at the emergency window on 29 Sept, up from Rs 201 crore the day before. Beside a surplus that is still large, that is small: it says some banks were short on the day, not that the system as a whole is.
What would prove us wrong3 trip-wires
What would we have to see to drop that read?
- First, the call money rate climbing well above the triparty rate, which would say banks are short, not just less flush.
- Second, heavier use of the emergency borrowing window, well past the Rs 5,880 crore of 29 Sept.
- Third, reverse repo auctions shrinking too, which would say the cash left rather than moved.
RBI money market operations, net liquidity injected (outstanding including today), day by day
Is this day's move out of line with the days before it?
Where rates are heading
| Rate | Latest | As of | Before | Change |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 3-month treasury bill yield | 5.35 percent | 22 Sep 2026 | 5.34 | +0.01 percentage points against 21 Sep 2026 |
Bigger than 26 of the 89 earlier daily changes we hold (29.2% of them), by percentage change. Of the 89 other daily changes in this series since 23 Jun 2026, 63 were larger than this one by percentage change (Rs 13,488 crore, 2.8%, either way). Counted from the published readings themselves; the tally is ours.
What to watch3 things to watch
What happens next, and when would we know?
- Whether the minus in the daily figure keeps shrinking toward zero or turns to a plus.
- How much RBI accepts at its next reverse repo auctions, set beside the standing deposit window.
- The 3-month Treasury bill yield, last at 5.35 percent, as a read on short-term borrowing costs.
Who this touches
What does each group do differently, and on what condition?
Opinion · adds no figures the Facts do not hold · every effect is potential and states its condition
| Who | What they do differently | On what condition |
|---|---|---|
| Banks | Banks would have to pay more for overnight money or for deposits, which squeezes what they earn between borrowing and lending. | ▼ if the surplus keeps shrinking until banks are shortpotential risk |
| Finance companies & fintech lenders | Lenders that fund themselves with short-term paper roll it over at a higher cost, which they pass on or absorb. | ▼ if a thinner surplus pushes up short-term borrowing ratespotential risk |
| Asset managers (AMCs) | Liquid funds hold overnight and very short loans, so what they earn follows these rates day by day. | ◆ pulls both ways: tighter cash lifts the yields liquid funds earn, but can also bring withdrawals by firms needing cash; the flows in and out of liquid funds would settle itunclear |
| Deposit & savings apps | Apps that sell bank fixed deposits have a better offer to show savers when banks compete for deposits. | ▲ if banks, short of spare cash, raise fixed-deposit rates to pull money inpotential benefit |
| Savers & depositors | Savers could be offered higher rates on fixed deposits and in liquid funds. | ▲ if banks compete harder for deposits as the surplus thinspotential benefit |
Go deeper
Learn: RBI money market operations, net liquidity injected (outstanding including today), in plain English
What spare cash in the banking system is. Every day, banks as a whole end up with either more cash than they need to lend and settle payments, or less. The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) steps in each day: when banks are short it lends to them, and when they have too much it takes the surplus off their hands for a short time. The balance of that daily give and take is the figure this page is about. It matters to anyone whose business runs on short-term money: banks, lenders that borrow for weeks or months at a time, liquid funds that park savers' money overnight, and apps that sell bank fixed deposits.
The other words behind these figures
How to read the sign. RBI prints the figure as money it has put into the system. When it is a minus, RBI is taking money out, which means banks have more than they need. On 29 Sept the figure was a minus of Rs 466,404 crore: on balance, that much was parked with RBI. A smaller minus means a smaller surplus.
How far it has come. In the 30 days to 29 Sept the deepest minus was Rs 1,116,006 crore, on 6 Sept. By 29 Sept the surplus had shrunk by Rs 649,602 crore from that point. The single largest one-day step before the latest was a Rs 247,725 crore shrink on 16 Sept.
The latest day on its own. On 29 Sept the surplus shrank by Rs 13,488 crore from the day before. A typical day's move in this figure, up or down, is about Rs 15,314 crore, so the latest day was an ordinary one.
The standing deposit window. The Standing Deposit Facility is a window RBI keeps open every day where banks can leave spare cash overnight and earn a fixed rate, with no limit and no collateral. What banks left there fell to Rs 180,469 crore on 29 Sept, down Rs 44,034 crore from the day before.
The reverse repo auction. A Variable Rate Reverse Repo is an auction RBI holds only when it chooses, in which banks bid to lend their spare cash to RBI for a set term. It soaks up surplus cash on RBI's terms rather than the banks'. In the overnight auction on 28 Sept RBI accepted Rs 111,711 crore, up Rs 39,740 crore from its auction on 22 Sept. One auction is not the whole surplus; it is one of the ways the surplus is parked.
The emergency borrowing window. The Marginal Standing Facility is the other side: a window where a bank short of cash can borrow overnight from RBI at a penalty rate. Banks borrowed Rs 5,880 crore there on 29 Sept, up from Rs 201 crore the day before. Small, but a sign that at least some banks were short on the day.
What overnight money cost. The call money rate is what banks charge each other to lend overnight with no security; it averaged 5.08 percent on 29 Sept, down 0.03 percentage points. The triparty repo rate is the overnight rate when the loan is backed by government bonds, with a third party holding the security; it was 5.05 percent, unchanged. The 3-month Treasury bill yield, a benchmark for what very short government borrowing pays, was 5.35 percent on 22 Sept.
One figure for the whole system. This is a single number for the banking system as a whole, so there are no peers to line it up against; the comparison is with its own recent days.
The figures, their edition, and where they came from
| Figure | Reading | Date | Where from |
|---|---|---|---|
| RBI money market operations, net liquidity injected (outstanding including today) | −Rs 466,404 crore | 29 Sep 2026 | rbi.org.in |
| RBI money market operations, net liquidity injected (outstanding including today) (previous reading) | −Rs 479,892 crore | 28 Sep 2026 | rbi.org.in |
| RBI money market operations, Standing Deposit Facility (SDF) amount | Rs 180,469 crore | 29 Sep 2026 | rbi.org.in |
| RBI money market operations, Marginal Standing Facility (MSF) amount | Rs 5,880 crore | 29 Sep 2026 | rbi.org.in |
| RBI money market operations, call money weighted average rate | 5.08 percent | 29 Sep 2026 | rbi.org.in |
| RBI money market operations, overnight triparty repo weighted average rate | 5.05 percent | 29 Sep 2026 | rbi.org.in |
| RBI Variable Rate Reverse Repo (VRRR) auction, amount accepted (overnight auction) | Rs 111,711 crore | 28 Sep 2026 | rbi.org.in |
| 3-month Treasury bill benchmark yield, FBIL daily | 5.35 percent | 22 Sep 2026 | fbil.org.in |
| Change in RBI money market operations, net liquidity injected (outstanding including today) | Rs 13,488 crore | Our calculation, not printed by any publisher | |
| Lowest reading in the 30 days to 29 Sep 2026 | −Rs 1,116,006 crore | Our calculation, not printed by any publisher | |
| Change from 6 Sep 2026 to 29 Sep 2026 | Rs 649,602 crore | Our calculation, not printed by any publisher |
How sure we are of each read, and why not more
| Who | Effect | How sure |
|---|---|---|
| Banks | potential risk | Inferred · overnight rates have not risen yet |
| Finance companies & fintech lenders | potential risk | Inferred · no short-term borrowing rate for such lenders in these figures |
| Asset managers (AMCs) | unclear | Unresolved · fund flows are not in these figures |
| Deposit & savings apps | potential benefit | Inferred · no deposit-rate move is printed here |
| Savers & depositors | potential benefit | Inferred · rates savers are offered are not in these figures |
Whether we have said this before
Of 89 earlier steps of this series in 2026, 62 moved by at least half as much in its own unit (Rs 6,744 crore).
Audit trail: why this card is held, and the store's own notes
Status: Published — gaps noted. held: 1 needs data
- Needs data (1)
- peer group incomplete: 3 of 6 other series from Reserve Bank of India in Rs crore have the same figure for the same period
Computed by us, from the published figures:
- Change in RBI money market operations, net liquidity injected (outstanding including today): Rs 13,488 crore, from the 2026-09-29 reading minus the 2026-09-28 reading
- Lowest reading in the 30 days to 2026-09-29: −Rs 1,116,006 crore, from the store's 2026-09-06 reading, the lowest of 23 readings from 2026-08-30 to 2026-09-29
- Change from 2026-09-06 to 2026-09-29: Rs 649,602 crore, from the 2026-09-29 reading (−Rs 466,404 crore) minus the 2026-09-06 reading (−Rs 1,116,006 crore)
Exact figures: RBI money market operations, net liquidity injected (outstanding including today) −Rs 466,404 crore, +Rs 13,488 crore against 2026-09-28; RBI money market operations, net liquidity injected (outstanding including today) (previous reading) −Rs 479,892 crore; RBI money market operations, Standing Deposit Facility (SDF) amount Rs 180,469 crore, −Rs 44,034 crore against 2026-09-28; RBI money market operations, Marginal Standing Facility (MSF) amount Rs 5,880 crore, +Rs 5,679 crore against 2026-09-28; RBI money market operations, call money weighted average rate 5.08 percent, −0.03 percentage points against 2026-09-28; RBI money market operations, overnight triparty repo weighted average rate 5.05 percent, +0.00 percentage points against 2026-09-28; RBI Variable Rate Reverse Repo (VRRR) auction, amount accepted (overnight auction) Rs 111,711 crore, +Rs 39,740 crore against 2026-09-22; 3-month Treasury bill benchmark yield, FBIL daily 5.35 percent, +0.01 percentage points against 2026-09-21.
What the source itself warns about
- RBI money market operations, net liquidity injected (outstanding including today). Signed: negative is absorption. INR crore, as printed in row F. A daily flow position, not the weekly net liquidity series and not net durable liquidity.
- RBI money market operations, net liquidity injected (outstanding including today) (previous reading). Signed: negative is absorption. INR crore, as printed in row F. A daily flow position, not the weekly net liquidity series and not net durable liquidity.
- RBI money market operations, Standing Deposit Facility (SDF) amount. Today's operations only, INR crore, as printed. Before a holiday RBI prints one row per tenor and no total: those days are left blank rather than summed.
- RBI money market operations, Marginal Standing Facility (MSF) amount. Today's operations only, INR crore, as printed. Before a holiday RBI prints one row per tenor and no total: those days are left blank rather than summed.
- RBI money market operations, call money weighted average rate. Unsecured interbank overnight, percent a year, as printed. Dated by the 'as on' business day. A day with no call trades is left blank.
- RBI money market operations, overnight triparty repo weighted average rate. Overnight triparty repo only (term triparty is not read), percent a year, as printed. Dated by the 'as on' business day.
- RBI Variable Rate Reverse Repo (VRRR) auction, amount accepted (overnight auction). One auction's amount for its tenor; it is not the system's total liquidity position, and several auctions can run on one day. One reading per tenor (the entity) per auction date; RBI runs these only when it chooses, so a missing day is no auction, not a gap.
- 3-month Treasury bill benchmark yield, FBIL daily. FBIL T-bill curve, tenor "3 Months". A VALUATION benchmark, not the 91-day PRIMARY AUCTION yield in "91-day Treasury bill yield, primary auction"; never placed in the same column.