RBI allows 4 firms to trade in gilts

MUMBAI, February 5: The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on Friday gave the final clearance to four entities to set up primary dealerships (PD...

MUMBAI, February 5: The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on Friday gave the final clearance to four entities to set up primary dealerships (PDs) in the government securities market. The central bank gave the clearances to JP Morgan securities, ABN-Amro Investment, Ceat Financial Services and Tata Finance.

With this development, only three applicants — Duetsch Bank, Kotak Mahindra Capital Company and DSP Merrill Lynch — are hanging on the sidelines with "in-principle clearances." The RBI had given in-principle clearances to seven outfits to become PDs. Today’s clearance paves the way for ten PDs in the primary government debt market in India.

Of the four that have been given the final clearance, two of them– Ceat Financial and Tata Finance were already operating as satelite dealers (SDs). SDs form the second rung of players in the government securities market. Incidentally, JP Morgan which has tied up with the Khaitans for a 25 per cent stake has already started its operations from yesterday.

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Dealerswelcomed the RBI move to appoint four more entities as PDs as this is likely to provide additional depth to the government securities market. "The move will impart further liquidity in an ever-expanding government securities market," Sandipan Deb, debt analyst in ICICI-Securities, said. I-Sec is one of the six PDs currently operating in the securities market. Other PDs include the Discount and Finance House of India, Securities Trading Corporation of India, PNB Gilts, Gilts Securities Trading Corporation and SBI Gilts.

The appointment of four more PDs will also see the gradual disappearance of the RBI from the primary government securities market. The apex bank has for long been a player in the gilts market and has for the past four years tried to phase out its presence by appointing PDs which will be the primary players in the gilts market.