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Government Securities Market in India – A Primer

10. What are the Do's and Don’ts prescribed by RBI for the Co-operative banks dealing in G-Secs? +

While undertaking transactions in securities, UCBs should adhere to the instructions issued by the RBI. The guidelines on transactions in G-Secs by the UCBs have been codified in the master circular DCBR. BPD (PCB).MC.No. 4/16.20.000/2015-16 dated July 1, 2015 which is updated from time to time. This circular can also be accessed from the RBI website under the Notifications – Master circulars section. The important guidelines to be kept in view by the UCBs relate to formulation of an investment policy duly approved by their Board of Directors, defining objectives of the policy, authorities and procedures to put through deals, dealings through brokers, preparing panel of brokers and review thereof at annual intervals, and adherence to the prudential ceilings fixed for transacting through each of the brokers, etc.

The important Do’s & Don’ts are summarized in the Box I below.

BOX I

Do’s & Don’ts for Dealing in G-Secs

Do’s

Segregate dealing and back-office functions. Officials deciding about purchase and sale transactions should be separate from those responsible for settlement and accounting.
Monitor all transactions to see that delivery takes place on settlement day. The funds account and investment account should be reconciled on the same day before close of business.
Keep a proper record of the SGL forms received/issued to facilitate counter-checking by their internal control systems/RBI inspectors/other auditors.
Seek a Scheduled Commercial Bank (SCB), a PD or a Financial Institution (FI) as counterparty for transactions.
Give preference for direct deals with counter parties.
Insist on Delivery versus Payment for all transactions.
Take advantage of the NCB facility for acquiring G-Secs in the primary auctions conducted by the RBI.
Restrict the role of the broker only to that of bringing the two parties to the deal together, if a deal is put through with the help of broker.
Have a list of approved brokers. Utilize only brokers registered with NSE or BSE or OTCEI for acting as intermediary.
Place a limit of 5% of total transactions (both purchases and sales) entered into by a bank during a year as the aggregate upper contract limit for each of the approved brokers. A disproportionate part of the business should not be transacted with or through one or a few brokers.
Maintain and transact in G-Secs only in dematerialized form in SGL Account or Gilt Account maintained with the CSGL Account holder.
Open and maintain Gilt account or dematerialized account
Open a funds account for securities transactions with the same Scheduled Commercial bank or the State Cooperative bank with whom the Gilt Account is maintained.
Ensure availability of clear funds in the designated funds accounts for purchases and sufficient securities in the Gilt Account for sales before putting through the transactions.
Observe prudential limits and abide by restrictions for investment in permitted non-SLR securities (Prudential limit : shall not exceed 10% of the total deposits of bank as on March 31 of the preceding financial year) ( Instruments : (i) “A” or equivalent and higher rated CPs, debentures and bonds, (ii) units of debt mutual funds and money market mutual funds, (iii) shares of market infrastructure companies eg. CCIL, NPCI, SWIFT).
The Board of Directors to peruse all investment transactions at least once a month

Don’ts

Do not undertake any purchase/sale transactions with broking firms or other intermediaries on principal to principal basis.
Do not use brokers in the settlement process at all, i.e., both funds settlement and delivery of securities should be done with the counter-parties directly.
Do not give power of attorney or any other authorisation under any circumstances to brokers/intermediaries to deal on your behalf in the money and securities markets.
Do not undertake G-Secs transaction in the physical form with any broker.
Do not routinely make investments in non-SLR securities (e.g., corporate bonds, etc) issued by companies or bodies.

Foreign Investment in India

Q.10: Whether any approval is required for an entity which has received foreign investment under automatic route and subsequently the sector was brought under approval route +

Answer: As long as the foreign shareholding in the entity remains the same and there is no corporate action pursuant to the sector being brought under approval route, approval is not required.

Indian Currency

B) Banknotes

3. Which denomination banknotes are currently in circulation?

Banknotes in India are currently being issued in the denomination of ₹10, ₹20, ₹50, ₹100 ₹200, ₹500, and ₹2000*. These notes are called banknotes as they are issued by the Reserve Bank of India. The printing of notes in the denominations of ₹2 and ₹5 has been discontinued and these denominations have been coinised as the cost of printing and servicing these banknotes was not commensurate with their life. However, such banknotes issued earlier can still be found in circulation and these banknotes continue to be legal tender. ₹1 notes are issued by the Government of India from time to time and such notes including those issued in the past also continue to be legal tender for transactions.

*₹2000 denomination notes continue to be legal tender. For more details, please refer to our press release 2023-2024/851 dated September 01, 2023 (https://rbi.org.in/web/rbi/-/press-releases/withdrawal-of-%E2%82%B92000-denomination-banknotes-status-56301).

Biennial survey on Foreign Collaboration in Indian Industry (FCS)

Details of survey launch

Q10. If the company does not have FTC during the survey reference period, do they need to participate in the survey?

Ans.: In case the company does not have any FTC during the survey reference period, then they have to submit the survey schedule of FCS survey by filling Part I and II of the form.

Core Investment Companies

B. Registration and related matters:

10. In case an existing NBFC is converted into a CIC after fulfilling the stipulated criteria, will the existing CoR continue or will a fresh application need to be made?

Ans: Existing NBFCs seeking conversion of CoR to CIC shall be required to make an application in the prescribed format through the Bank’s Pravaah Portal.

Remittances [Money Transfer Service Scheme (MTSS) and Rupee Drawing Arrangement (RDA)]

Money Transfer Service Scheme (MTSS)

10. Who is an Indian Agent ? +

To become an Indian Agent, the applicant should be an Authorised Dealer Category-I bank or an Authorised Dealer Category-II or a Full Fledged Money Changer (FFMC) or the Department of Posts. Further, the Indian agents can also appoint sub-agents which can be retail outlets, commercial entities having a place of business, and whose bonafides are acceptable to the Indian Agent.

Portfolio Investment Positions (PIP) by Counterpart Economy (formerly CPIS) – India

What to report under PIP?

Q10. Should we report data for a particular branch of the reporting entity or the consolidated data of the entity? +

Ans: A consolidated data at the entity level, covering all the branches/offices in India, should be furnished.

All you wanted to know about NBFCs

B. Entities Regulated by RBI and applicable regulations

10. Where can one find list of Registered NBFCs and instructions issued to NBFCs?

The list of registered NBFCs is available on the web site of Reserve Bank (Home - Reserve Bank of India) under ‘Regulation → Non-Banking’. Further, the Directions issued to NBFCs from time to time are hosted on the Reserve Bank’s website under ‘Notifications’, and some instructions are issued through Official Gazette notifications and press releases as well.

FAQs on Priority Sector Lending (PSL)

J. PSLCs

Query 27: Will the net PSLC position only be reckoned for ascertaining the underlying asset?

Clarification: A bank can purchase PSLCs as per its requirements. Further, a bank is permitted to issue PSLCs upto 50 percent of previous year’s PSL achievement without having the underlying in its books. This is applicable category-wise. The net position of PSLCs (PSLC Buy – PSLC Sell) has to be considered while reporting the quarterly and annual priority sector returns. However, with regard to ascertaining the underlying assets, as on March 31st, the bank must have met the priority sector target by way of the sum of outstanding priority sector portfolio and net of PSLCs issued and purchased.

Query 28: What happens if the RBI inspection team, at a later date, de-classifies the underlying assets which had already been traded by the bank as PSLC, from eligibility for PSL classification?

Clarification: The misclassifications, if any, will have to be reduced from the achievement of PSLC seller bank only. There will be no risk for the PSLC buyer, even if the underlying asset of the traded PSLC gets misclassified.