By Dharamraj Dhutia
MUMBAI (Reuters) – Indian bond market participants want the government to lower supply of ultra-long debt in the fiscal year that starts April 1, five treasury officials said on Monday.
India’s central bank, the government’s debt manager, met market participants over last week to seek views on the borrowing plan.
“The widespread suggestion from dealers and banks was to cut down supply of ultra-long bonds to 34%-35% of the total borrowing, due to weak demand for such papers towards the end of this year’s auction cycle,” one of the traders with direct knowledge of the matter, said.
Indian government aims to borrow 14.82 trillion rupees (about $171 billion) on a gross basis next fiscal year. India’s financial year runs from April to March.
Notes maturing in 30, 40 and 50 years made up about 38% of all bonds sold this fiscal year.
All the sources requested anonymity as they are not authorised to speak to media.
The Reserve Bank of India did not immediately reply to a Reuters email seeking comment.
While the demand-supply dynamics will remain favourable, supply of the longer maturities should be lowered as demand from insurance companies has reduced to some extent, Vikas Jain, head of India fixed income, currencies and commodities trading at Bank of America said in a late-February interview.
The gap between yields on India’s 10-year and 40-year bonds, a marker of the premium investors ask for buying long-term notes, spiked to a nearly three-year high of 40 basis points in February.
Bankers also want the government to sell more bonds in the first half of next fiscal year, according to a senior official at a primary dealership.
The government typically sells nearly 60% of its annual supply of bonds during the April-September period. In the current fiscal year, the supply fell to 53% as national elections curbed spending.
Higher early supply would be absorbed as it might coincide with policy rate cuts, the primary dealership official said.
Meanwhile, at the meetings, the central bank discussed the possibility of reducing the frequency of 10-year bond sales, traders said.
($1 = 86.8220 Indian rupees)
(Reporting by Dharamraj Dhutia; Editing by Mrigank Dhaniwala)
