Money market on 1 Oct: 4-day VRRR draws ₹1.68 lakh crore
Overnight volume was small because banks traded for longer periods. RBI absorbed a net ₹2,98,537 crore, including ₹1,68,055 crore in the 4-day VRRR.
Official title: Money Market Operations as on October 01, 2026 · Press Release 2026-2027/1242
What happened
This is RBI's daily money market report for 1 October 2026. Overnight money market trades came to ₹21,194 crore at a weighted average rate of 5.29%. The call money rate (banks lending to each other without collateral) averaged 5.04% and the triparty repo rate (overnight loans against government bonds) averaged 5.39%.
RBI's own operations that day: ₹1,68,055 crore at 5.24% went to the 4-day VRRR; banks parked ₹1,26,327 crore for one day, plus smaller amounts for longer holiday periods at the deposit window (SDF), and borrowed ₹824 crore at the emergency window (MSF). Net, RBI absorbed ₹2,98,537 crore from the system, and ₹4,37,549 crore counting all outstanding operations. A minus sign here means RBI is taking in cash, so the system still had surplus cash. Overnight volume looks small at ₹21,194 crore, against over ₹7 lakh crore on a normal day. The term segment is much larger than usual on this date: term triparty repo volume was ₹5,35,005 crore at 5.14% and term market repo ₹1,90,765 crore at 5.08%, probably because loans made on 1 October ran over the holiday weekend. The release does not explain this.
What it means for you
No direct effect on your deposits, loans or EMIs. These numbers show how much spare cash banks have and what overnight money costs them.
What it means for businesses
Banks and treasuries use these rates to see how easy or expensive it is to borrow cash. For businesses and borrowers there is no direct change.
Links in this release, explained
- Press Release No. 2025-2026/1201 dated September 30, 2025
An earlier RBI release that the table footnote cites as the basis for the variable rate repo and reverse repo auctions listed under RBI operations. Useful background on how those auctions are run.
www.rbi.org.in/Scripts/BS_PressReleaseDisplay.aspx?prid=61317 - Press Release No. 2022-2023/41 dated April 08, 2022
The footnote cites this release for the Standing Deposit Facility (SDF), the window where banks can park spare cash with RBI overnight without handing over securities.
www.rbi.org.in/Scripts/BS_PressReleaseDisplay.aspx?prid=53539 - Press Release No. 2014-2015/1971 dated March 19, 2015
The footnote cites this release for how the Government of India surplus cash balance is reckoned for RBI auctions. A technical reference, not needed to follow the numbers.
www.rbi.org.in/Scripts/BS_PressReleaseDisplay.aspx?prid=33496 - Press Release No. 2023-2024/1548 dated December 27, 2023
Another earlier RBI release cited in a table footnote, in this case against the Marginal Standing Facility line. It is a reference for the rules behind that line; we have not summarised its contents.
www.rbi.org.in/Scripts/BS_PressReleaseDisplay.aspx?prid=56998 - Notification No. RBI/2025-26/148 dated December 11, 2025
The RBI notification cited for the cash reserve requirement figure, the share of deposits banks must keep with RBI. It explains the "average daily cash reserve requirement" line in the reserve position table.
www.rbi.org.in/Scripts/NotificationUser.aspx?Id=13224&Mode=0
Read the original
Press release on rbi.org.in ↗ Official PDF ↗
This explainer simplifies the official text. If anything here differs from the RBI's release, the release is right.