The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on Wednesday announced that it will extend trading hours for the call money market, market repo, and Tri-Party Repo (TREP) from July 1.
The decision to extend the hours follows recommendations made by a working group chaired by Radha Shyam Ratho, IANS reported.
According to an official statement, trading hours for the call money market will be extended by two hours. At present, the market closes at 5 pm, but from July 1, it will remain open until 7 pm.
The revised hours for the call money market will be from 9 am to 7 pm, the RBI stated.
“The market timings for call money shall be extended to 7 pm with effect from July 1. Accordingly, the revised market hours shall be from 9 am to 7 pm,” the central bank stated, as per the IANS.
Similarly, trading hours for the market repo and TREP segments will be extended to 4 pm, compared to the current closing time of 2:30 pm.
“The trading hours of market repo and Tri-Party Repo (TREP) shall be extended to 4 pm with effect from August 1. Accordingly, the revised trading hours shall be from 9 am to 4 pm,” the RBI said in its statement, according to the IANS.
The central bank noted that the move will provide greater flexibility to market participants and enhance liquidity management in the overnight money market.
The RBI stated that these extended hours are expected to improve price discovery and enable financial institutions to manage their short-term funding requirements more efficiently.
There will, however, be no changes at present to the trading hours for other markets such as government securities, foreign exchange, and interest rate derivatives. These will continue to operate under existing timings, the news agency reported.
The working group was tasked with reviewing current trading and settlement hours to support market development, improve price discovery, and enhance the efficiency of liquidity management.
The RBI also stated that it is still reviewing other recommendations submitted by the working group and will take additional decisions in due course, reported the IANS.
(with inputs from IANS)
