FAQ Page 1 - RBI - Reserve Bank of India
Government Securities Market in India – A Primer
11.1 For every transaction entered into by the trading desk, a deal slip should be generated which should contain data relating to nature of the deal, name of the counter-party, whether it is a direct deal or through a broker (if it is through a broker, name of the broker), details of security, amount, price, contract date and time and settlement date. The deal slips should be serially numbered and verified separately to ensure that each deal slip has been properly accounted for. Once the deal is concluded, the deal slip should be immediately passed on to the back office (it should be separate and distinct from the front office) for recording and processing. For each deal, there must be a system of issue of confirmation to the counter-party. The timely receipt of requisite written confirmation from the counter-party, which must include all essential details of the contract, should be monitored by the back office. The need for counterparty confirmation of deals matched on NDS-OM will not arise, as NDS-OM is an anonymous automated order matching system. In case of trades finalized in the OTC market and reported on NDS-OM reported segment, both the buying and selling counter parties report the trade particulars separately on the reporting platform which should match for the trade to be settled.
11.2 Once a deal has been concluded through a broker, there should not be any substitution of the counterparty by the broker. Similarly, the security sold / purchased in a deal should not be substituted by another security under any circumstances.
11.3 On the basis of vouchers passed by the back office (which should be done after verification of actual contract notes received from the broker / counter party and confirmation of the deal by the counter party), the books of account should be independently prepared.
The following steps should be followed in purchase of a security:
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Which security to invest in – Typically this involves deciding on the maturity and coupon. Maturity is important because this determines the extent of risk an investor like an UCB is exposed to – normally higher the maturity, higher the interest rate risk or market risk. If the investment is largely to meet statutory requirements, it may be advisable to avoid taking undue market risk and buy securities with shorter maturity. Within the shorter maturity range (say 5-10 years), it would be safer to buy securities which are liquid, that is, securities which trade in relatively larger volumes in the market. The information about such securities can be obtained from the website of the CCIL (http://www.ccilindia.com/OMMWCG.aspx), which gives real-time secondary market trade data on NDS-OM. Pricing is more transparent in liquid securities, thereby reducing the chances of being misled/misinformed. The coupon rate of the security is equally important for the investor as it affects the total return from the security. In order to determine which security to buy, the investor must look at the Yield to Maturity (YTM) of a security (please refer to Box III under para 24.4 for a detailed discussion on YTM). Thus, once the maturity and yield (YTM) is decided, the UCB may select a security by looking at the price/yield information of securities traded on NDS-OM or by negotiating with bank or PD or broker.
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Where and Whom to buy from- In terms of transparent pricing, the NDS-OM is the safest because it is a live and anonymous platform where the trades are disseminated as they are struck and where counterparties to the trades are not revealed. In case, the trades are conducted on the telephone market, it would be safe to trade directly with a bank or a PD. In case one uses a broker, care must be exercised to ensure that the broker is registered on NSE or BSE or OTC Exchange of India. Normally, the active debt market brokers may not be interested in deal sizes which are smaller than the market lot (usually ₹ 5 cr). So it is better to deal directly with bank / PD or on NDS-OM, which also has a screen for odd-lots (i.e. less than ₹ 5 cr). Wherever a broker is used, the settlement should not happen through the broker. Trades should not be directly executed with any counterparties other than a bank, PD or a financial institution, to minimize the risk of getting adverse prices.
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How to ensure correct pricing – Since investors like UCBs have very small requirements, they may get a quote/price, which is worse than the price for standard market lots. To be sure of prices, only liquid securities may be chosen for purchase. A safer alternative for investors with small requirements is to buy under the primary auctions conducted by RBI through the non-competitive route. Since there are bond auctions almost every week, purchases can be considered to coincide with the auctions. Please see question 14 for details on ascertaining the prices of the G-Secs.
14.1 The return on a security is a combination of two elements (i) coupon income – that is, interest earned on the security and (ii) the gain / loss on the security due to price changes and reinvestment gains or losses.
14.2 Price information is vital to any investor intending to either buy or sell G-Secs. Information on traded prices of securities is available on the RBI website http://www.rbi.org.in under the path Home → Financial Markets → Financial Markets Watch → Order Matching Segment of Negotiated Dealing System. This will show a screen containing the details of the latest trades undertaken in the market along with the prices. Additionally, trade information can also be seen on CCIL website http://www.ccilindia.com/OMHome.aspx. On this page, the list of securities and the summary of trades is displayed. The total traded amount (TTA) on that day is shown against each security. Typically, liquid securities are those with the largest amount of TTA. Pricing in these securities is efficient and hence UCBs can choose these securities for their transactions. Since the prices are available on the screen they can invest in these securities at the current prices through their custodians. Participants can thus get near real-time information on traded prices and take informed decisions while buying / selling G-Secs. The screenshots of the above webpage are given below:
NDS-OM Market

The website of the Financial Benchmarks India Private Limited (FBIL), (www.fbil.org.in) is also a right source of price information, especially on securities that are not traded frequently.
15.1 Transactions undertaken between market participants in the OTC / telephone market are expected to be reported on the NDS-OM platform within 15 minutes after the deal is put through over telephone. All OTC trades are required to be mandatorily reported on the NDS-OM reported segment for settlement. Reporting on NDS-OM is a two stage process wherein both the seller and buyer of the security have to report their leg of the trade. System validates all the parameters like reporting time, price, security etc. and when all the criterias of both the reporting parties match, the deals get matched and trade details are sent by NDS-OM system to CCIL for settlement.
15.2 Reporting on behalf of entities maintaining gilt accounts with the custodians is done by the respective custodians in the same manner as they do in case of their own trades i.e., proprietary trades. The securities leg of these trades settles in the CSGL account of the custodian. Funds leg settle in the current account of the PM with RBI.
15.3 In the case of NDS-OM, participants place orders (amount and price) in the desired security on the system. Participants can modify / cancel their orders. Order could be a ‘bid’ (for purchase) or ‘offer’ (for sale) or a two way quote (both buy and sell) of securities. The system, in turn, will match the orders based on price and time priority. That is, it matches bids and offers of the same prices with time priority. It may be noted that bid and offer of the same entity do not match i.e. only inter-entity orders are matched by NDS-OM and not intra-entity. The NDS-OM system has separate screen for trading of the Central Government papers, State Government securities (SDLs) and Treasury bills (including Cash Management Bills). In addition, there is a screen for odd lot trading also essentially for facilitating trading by small participants in smaller lots of less than ₹ 5 crore. The minimum amount that can be traded in odd lot is ₹ 10,000 in dated securities, T-Bills and CMBs. The NDS-OM platform is an anonymous platform wherein the participants will not know the counterparty to the trade. Once an order is matched, the deal ticket gets generated automatically and the trade details flow to the CCIL. Due to anonymity offered by the system, the pricing is not influenced by the participants’ size and standing.
Primary Market
16.1 Once the allotment process in the primary auction is finalized, the successful participants are advised of the consideration amounts that they need to pay to the Government on settlement day. The settlement cycle for auctions of all kind of G-Secs i.e. dated securities, T-Bills, CMBs or SDLs, is T+1, i.e. funds and securities are settled on next working day from the conclusion of the trade. On the settlement date, the fund accounts of the participants are debited by their respective consideration amounts and their securities accounts (SGL accounts) are credited with the amount of securities allotted to them.
Secondary Market
16.2 The transactions relating to G-Secs are settled through the member’s securities / current accounts maintained with the RBI. The securities and funds are settled on a net basis i.e. Delivery versus Payment System-III (DvP-III). CCIL guarantees settlement of trades on the settlement date by becoming a central counter-party (CCP) to every trade through the process of novation, i.e., it becomes seller to the buyer and buyer to the seller. 16.3 All outright secondary market transactions in G-Secs are settled on a T+1 basis. However, in case of repo transactions in G-Secs, the market participants have the choice of settling the first leg on either T+0 basis or T+1 basis as per their requirement. RBI vide FMRD.DIRD.05/14.03.007/2017-18 dated November 16, 2017 had permitted FPIs to settle OTC secondary market transactions in Government Securities either on T+1 or on T+2 basis and in such cases, It may be ensured that all trades are reported on the trade date itself.
Delivery versus Payment (DvP) is the mode of settlement of securities wherein the transfer of securities and funds happen simultaneously. This ensures that unless the funds are paid, the securities are not delivered and vice versa. DvP settlement eliminates the settlement risk in transactions. There are three types of DvP settlements, viz., DvP I, II and III which are explained below:
Delivery versus Payment (DvP) is the mode of settlement of securities wherein the transfer of securities and funds happen simultaneously. This ensures that unless the funds are paid, the securities are not delivered and vice versa. DvP settlement eliminates the settlement risk in transactions. There are three types of DvP settlements, viz., DvP I, II and III which are explained below:
i. DvP I – The securities and funds legs of the transactions are settled on a gross basis, that is, the settlements occur transaction by transaction without netting the payables and receivables of the participant.
ii. DvP II – In this method, the securities are settled on gross basis whereas the funds are settled on a net basis, that is, the funds payable and receivable of all transactions of a party are netted to arrive at the final payable or receivable position which is settled.
iii. DvP III – In this method, both the securities and the funds legs are settled on a net basis and only the final net position of all transactions undertaken by a participant is settled.
Liquidity requirement in a gross mode is higher than that of a net mode since the payables and receivables are set off against each other in the net mode.
"When, as and if issued" (commonly known as ‘When Issued’) security refers to a security that has been authorized for issuance but not yet actually issued. When Issued trading takes place between the time a Government Security is announced for issuance and the time it is actually issued. All 'When Issued' transactions are on an 'if' basis, to be settled if and when the actual security is issued. RBI vide its notification FMRD.DIRD.03/14.03.007/2018-19 dated July 24, 2018 has issued When Issued Transactions (Reserve Bank) Directions, 2018 applicable to ‘When Issued’ transactions in Central Government securities.
Both new and reissued Government securities issued by the Central Government are eligible for ‘When Issued’ transactions. Eligibility of an issue for ‘When Issue’ trades would be indicated in the respective specific auction notification. Participants eligible to undertake both net long and short position in ‘When Issued’ market are (a) All entities which are eligible to participate in the primary auction of Central Government securities,(b) However, resident individuals, Hindu Undivided Families (HUF), Non-Resident Indians (NRI) and Overseas Citizens of India (OCI) are eligible to undertake only long position in ‘When Issued’ securities. (c) Entities other than scheduled commercial banks and Primary Dealers (PDs), shall close their short positions, if any, by the close of trading on the date of auction of the underlying Central Government security.
When Issued transactions would commence after the issue of a security is notified by the Central Government and it would cease at the close of trading on the date of auction. All ‘When Issued’ transactions for all trade dates shall be contracted for settlement on the date of issue. When Issued’ transactions shall be undertaken only on the Negotiated Dealing System-Order Matching (NDS-OM) platform. However, an existing position in a ‘When Issued’ security may be closed either on the NDS-OM platform or outside the NDS-OM platform, i.e., through Over-the-Counter (OTC) market. The open position limits are prescribed in the directions. All NDS-OM members participating in the ‘When Issued’ market are required to have in place a written policy on ‘When Issued’ trading which should be approved by the Board of Directors or equivalent body.
"Short sale" means sale of a security one does not own. RBI vide its notification FMRD.DIRD.05/14.03.007/2018-19 dated July 25, 2018 has issued Short Sale (Reserve Bank) Directions, 2018 applicable to ‘Short Sale’ transactions in Central Government dated securities. Banks may treat sale of a security held in the investment portfolio as a short sale and follow the process laid down in these directions. These transactions shall be referred to as ‘notional’ short sales. For the purpose of these guidelines, short sale would include 'notional' short sale.
Entities eligible to undertake short sales are (a) Scheduled commercial banks, (b) Primary Dealers, (c) Urban Cooperative Banks as permitted under circular UBD.BPD (PCB). Circular No.9/09.29.000/2013-14 dated September 4, 2013 and (d) Any other regulated entity which has the approval of the concerned regulator (SEBI, IRDA, PFRDA, NABARD, NHB). The maximum amount of a security (face value) that can be short sold is (a) for Liquid securities: 2% of the total outstanding stock of each security, or, ₹ 500 crore, whichever is higher; (b) for other securities: 1% of the total outstanding stock of each security, or, ₹ 250 crore, whichever is higher. The list of liquid securities shall be disseminated by FIMMDA/FBIL from time to time. Short sales shall be covered within a period of three months from the date of transaction (inclusive of the date). Banks undertaking ‘notional’ short sales shall ordinarily borrow securities from the repo market to meet delivery obligations, but in exceptional situations of market stress (e.g., short squeeze), it may deliver securities from its own investment portfolio. If securities are delivered out of its own portfolio, it must be accounted for appropriately and reflect the transactions as internal borrowing. It shall be ensured that the securities so borrowed are brought back to the same portfolio, without any change in book value.
Page Last Updated on: December 10, 2022