Money market on 7 Oct: rates step up, ₹4.28 lakh crore absorbed
Overnight rates averaged 5.33%, up from about 5.06%. RBI absorbed a net ₹4,27,594 crore, its most in this run, as its own windows moved up by 0.25 points.
Official title: Money Market Operations as on October 07, 2026 · Press Release 2026-2027/1276
What happened
This is RBI's daily money market report for 7 October 2026. Overnight money market trades came to ₹7,06,317 crore at a weighted average rate of 5.33%. The call money rate (banks lending to each other without collateral) averaged 5.36% and the triparty repo rate (overnight loans against government bonds) averaged 5.32%.
RBI's own operations that day: ₹2,55,827 crore at 5.49% went to the one-day VRRR; banks parked ₹1,72,267 crore at 5.25% at the deposit window (SDF), and borrowed ₹500 crore at 5.75% at the emergency window (MSF). Net, RBI absorbed ₹4,27,594 crore from the system, and ₹4,23,481 crore counting all outstanding operations. A minus sign here means RBI is taking in cash, so the system still had surplus cash. Compared with the day before, the deposit rate rose from 5.00% to 5.25%, the emergency (MSF) rate from 5.50% to 5.75%, and the VRRR cut-off from 5.24% to 5.49%. All moved up together by 0.25 points. This release does not explain why. Market rates followed the move.
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.