Statutory liquidity ratio

Last updated

In India, the Statutory liquidity ratio (SLR) is the Government term for the reserve requirement that commercial banks are required to maintain in the form of cash, gold reserves, Govt. bonds and other Reserve Bank of India (RBI)- approved securities before providing credit to the customers. The SLR to be maintained by banks is determined by the RBI in order to control liquidity expansion. The SLR is determined as a percentage of total demand and time liabilities. Time liabilities refer to the liabilities which the commercial banks are liable to repay to the customers after an agreed period, and demand liabilities are customer deposits which are repayable on demand. An example of a time liability is a six-month fixed deposit which is not payable on demand but only after six months. An example of a demand liability is a deposit maintained in a saving account or current account that is payable on demand.

Contents

The SLR is commonly used to control inflation and fuel growth, by decreasing or increasing the money supply. Indian banks' holdings of government securities are now[ when? ] close to the statutory minimum that banks are required to hold to comply with existing regulation. When measured in rupees, such holdings decreased for the first time in a little less than 40 years (since the nationalisation of banks in 1969) in 2005–06. It is 18.00 percent as in June 2020. [1]

Usage

SLR is used by bankers and indicates the minimum percentage of deposits that the bank has to maintain in form of gold, cash or other approved securities. Thus, we can say that it is ratio of cash and some other approved liability (deposits). It regulates the credit growth in India.

The liabilities that the banks are liable to pay within one month's time, due to completion of maturity period, are also considered as time liabilities. The maximum limit of SLR is 40% and minimum limit of SLR is 0 In India, Reserve Bank of India always determines the percentage of SLR.

There are some statutory requirements for temporarily placing the money in government bonds. Following this requirement, Reserve Bank of India fixes the level of SLR. However, as most banks currently keep an SLR higher than required (>26%) due to lack of credible lending options, near term reductions are unlikely to increase liquidity and are more symbolic. [2] [3]

The SLR is fixed for a number of reasons. The chief driving force is increasing or decreasing liquidity which can result in a desired outcome. A few uses of mandating SLR are:

If any Indian bank fails to maintain the required level of the statutory liquidity ratio, it becomes liable to pay penalty to the Reserve Bank of India. The defaulter bank pays penal interest at the rate of 3% per annum above the bank rate, on the shortfall amount for that particular day. However, according to the Circular released by the Department of Banking Operations and Development, Reserve Bank of India, if the defaulter bank continues to default on the next working day, the rate of penal interest can be increased to 5% per annum above the bank rate. This restriction is imposed by RBI on banks to make funds available to customers on demand as soon as possible. Gold and government securities (or gilts) are included along with cash because they are highly liquid and safe assets.

The RBI can increase the SLR to control inflation, suck liquidity out of the market, to tighten the measure to safeguard the customers' money. Decrease in SLR rate is done to encourage growth. In a growing economy banks would like to invest in stock market, not in government securities or gold as the latter would yield less returns. One more reason is long term government securities (or any bond) are sensitive to interest rate changes. However, in an emerging economy, interest rate change is a common activity.

Value and formula

The quantum is specified as some percentage of the total demand and time liabilities ( i.e. the liabilities of the bank which are payable on demand anytime, and those liabilities which are accruing in one months time due to maturity) of a bank.

SLR rate = (liquid assets / (demand + time liabilities)) × 100%

This percentage is fixed by the Reserve Bank of India. The maximum limit for the SLR was 40% in India. [4] Following the amendment of the Banking regulation Act (1949) in January 2017, the floor rate of 20.75% for SLR was removed. From April 11, 2020, rate of SLR is 18.00%.

See also

Related Research Articles

In business, economics or investment, market liquidity is a market's feature whereby an individual or firm can quickly purchase or sell an asset without causing a drastic change in the asset's price. Liquidity involves the trade-off between the price at which an asset can be sold, and how quickly it can be sold. In a liquid market, the trade-off is mild: one can sell quickly without having to accept a significantly lower price. In a relatively illiquid market, an asset must be discounted in order to sell quickly. Money, or cash, is the most liquid asset because it can be exchanged for goods and services instantly at face value.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Monetary policy of the United States</span> Political Policy

The monetary policy of The United States is the set of policies which the Federal Reserve follows to achieve its twin objectives of high employment and stable inflation.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Money supply</span> Total value of money available in an economy at a specific point in time

In macroeconomics, money supply refers to the total volume of money held by the public at a particular point in time. There are several ways to define "money", but standard measures usually include currency in circulation and demand deposits. Money supply data is recorded and published, usually by the national statistical agency or the central bank of the country. Empirical money supply measures are usually named M1, M2, M3, etc., according to how wide a definition of money they embrace. The precise definitions vary from country to country, in part depending on national financial institutional traditions.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Reserve Bank of India</span> Central Bank of India

The Reserve Bank of India, abbreviated as RBI, is India's central bank and regulatory body responsible for regulation of the Indian banking system. Owned by the Ministry of Finance, Government of India, it is responsible for the control, issue and maintaining supply of the Indian rupee. It also manages the country's main payment systems and works to promote its economic development. Bharatiya Reserve Bank Note Mudran (BRBNM) is a specialised division of RBI through which it prints and mints Indian currency notes (INR) in two of its currency printing presses located in Mysore and Salboni. The RBI, along with the Indian Banks' Association, established the National Payments Corporation of India to promote and regulate the payment and settlement systems in India. Deposit Insurance and Credit Guarantee Corporation was established by RBI as one of its specialized division for the purpose of providing insurance of deposits and guaranteeing of credit facilities to all Indian banks.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Fractional-reserve banking</span> System of banking

Fractional-reserve banking is the system of banking in all countries worldwide, under which banks that take deposits from the public keep only part of their deposit liabilities in liquid assets as a reserve, typically lending the remainder to borrowers. Bank reserves are held as cash in the bank or as balances in the bank's account at the central bank. Fractional-reserve banking differs from the hypothetical alternative model, full-reserve banking, in which banks would keep all depositor funds on hand as reserves.

A repurchase agreement, also known as a repo, RP, or sale and repurchase agreement, is a form of short-term borrowing, mainly in government securities. The dealer sells the underlying security to investors and, by agreement between the two parties, buys them back shortly afterwards, usually the following day, at a slightly higher price.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bank run</span> Mass withdrawal of money from banks

A bank run or run on the bank occurs when many clients withdraw their money from a bank, because they believe the bank may fail in the near future. In other words, it is when, in a fractional-reserve banking system, numerous customers withdraw cash from deposit accounts with a financial institution at the same time because they believe that the financial institution is, or might become, insolvent. When they transfer funds to another institution, it may be characterized as a capital flight. As a bank run progresses, it may become a self-fulfilling prophecy: as more people withdraw cash, the likelihood of default increases, triggering further withdrawals. This can destabilize the bank to the point where it runs out of cash and thus faces sudden bankruptcy. To combat a bank run, a bank may acquire more cash from other banks or from the central bank, or limit the amount of cash customers may withdraw, either by imposing a hard limit or by scheduling quick deliveries of cash, encouraging high-return term deposits to reduce on-demand withdrawals or suspending withdrawals altogether.

In macroeconomics, an open market operation (OMO) is an activity by a central bank to exchange liquidity in its currency with a bank or a group of banks. The central bank can either either transact government bonds and other financial assets in the open market or enter into a repo or secured lending transaction with a commercial bank. The latter option, often preferred by central banks, involves them making fixed period deposits at commercial banks with the security of eligible assets as collateral.

Reserve requirements are central bank regulations that set the minimum amount that a commercial bank must hold in liquid assets. This minimum amount, commonly referred to as the commercial bank's reserve, is generally determined by the central bank on the basis of a specified proportion of deposit liabilities of the bank. This rate is commonly referred to as the cash reserve ratio or shortened as reserve ratio. Though the definitions vary, the commercial bank's reserves normally consist of cash held by the bank and stored physically in the bank vault, plus the amount of the bank's balance in that bank's account with the central bank. A bank is at liberty to hold in reserve sums above this minimum requirement, commonly referred to as excess reserves.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cash and cash equivalents</span> Highly liquid, short-term assets

Cash and cash equivalents (CCE) are the most liquid current assets found on a business's balance sheet. Cash equivalents are short-term commitments "with temporarily idle cash and easily convertible into a known cash amount". An investment normally counts as a cash equivalent when it has a short maturity period of 90 days or less, and can be included in the cash and cash equivalents balance from the date of acquisition when it carries an insignificant risk of changes in the asset value. If it has a maturity of more than 90 days, it is not considered a cash equivalent. Equity investments mostly are excluded from cash equivalents, unless they are essentially cash equivalents.

Foreign exchange reserves are cash and other reserve assets such as gold and silver held by a central bank or other monetary authority that are primarily available to balance payments of the country, influence the foreign exchange rate of its currency, and to maintain confidence in financial markets. Reserves are held in one or more reserve currencies, nowadays mostly the United States dollar and to a lesser extent the euro.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Money creation</span> Process by which the money supply of an economic region is increased

Money creation, or money issuance, is the process by which the money supply of a country, or an economic or monetary region, is increased. In most modern economies, money is created by both central banks and commercial banks. Money issued by central banks is termed reserve deposits and is only available for use by central bank account holders, which are generally large commercial banks and foreign central banks. Central banks can increase the quantity of reserve deposits directly, by engaging in open market operations or quantitative easing. However, the majority of the money supply used by the public for conducting transactions is created by the commercial banking system in the form of bank deposits. Bank loans issued by commercial banks expand the quantity of bank deposits.

Asset and liability management is the practice of managing financial risks that arise due to mismatches between the assets and liabilities as part of an investment strategy in financial accounting.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bank</span> Financial institution which accepts deposits

A bank is a financial institution that accepts deposits from the public and creates a demand deposit while simultaneously making loans. Lending activities can be directly performed by the bank or indirectly through capital markets.

The interbank lending market is a market in which banks lend funds to one another for a specified term. Most interbank loans are for maturities of one week or less, the majority being overnight. Such loans are made at the interbank rate. A sharp decline in transaction volume in this market was a major contributing factor to the collapse of several financial institutions during the financial crisis of 2007–2008.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Australian government debt</span> Amount owed by the Australian federal government

The Australian government debt is the amount owed by the Australian federal government. The Australian Office of Financial Management, which is part of the Treasury Portfolio, is the agency which manages the government debt and does all the borrowing on behalf of the Australian government. Australian government borrowings are subject to limits and regulation by the Loan Council, unless the borrowing is for defence purposes or is a 'temporary' borrowing. Government debt and borrowings have national macroeconomic implications, and are also used as one of the tools available to the national government in the macroeconomic management of the national economy, enabling the government to create or dampen liquidity in financial markets, with flow on effects on the wider economy.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Deposit account</span> Bank holding into and from which money can be placed or withdrawn

A deposit account is a bank account maintained by a financial institution in which a customer can deposit and withdraw money. Deposit accounts can be savings accounts, current accounts or any of several other types of accounts explained below.

In the Philippines, monetary policy is the way the central bank, the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas, controls the supply and availability of money, the cost of money, and the rate of interest. With fiscal policy, monetary policy allows the government to influence the economy, control inflation, and stabilize currency.

Liquidity adjustment facility (LAF) is a monetary policy which allows banks to borrow money through repurchase agreements (REPO).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Reserve Bank of India Act, 1934</span> Act of Imperial Legislative Council of India

Reserve Bank of India Act, 1934 is the legislative act under which the Reserve Bank of India was formed. This act along with the Companies Act, which was amended in 1936, were meant to provide a framework for the supervision of banking firms in India.

References

  1. "Reserve Bank of India". www.rbi.org.com. Retrieved 4 June 2020.
  2. "50 Basis Points Cut in SLR is Symbolic: Deven Choksey". NDTV. 3 February 2015. Retrieved 14 March 2019.
  3. "RBI Pushes Banks for Lower Lending Rates". NDTV. 3 February 2015. Retrieved 14 March 2019.
  4. Master Circular of RBI to banks http://rbidocs.rbi.org.in/rdocs/notification/PDFs/55663.pdf

Further reading