FII bids exceed about 4-time for Rs 1,488 cr govt bond auction

Foreign investors today put in bids worth Rs 5,664 crore for government bonds, nearly four times more than debt securities of Rs 1,488 crore put on auction.
The auction was held at 'ebidxchange' platform for allocation of investment limits in government debt securities worth Rs 1,488 crore (USD 242 million). The auction attracted bids for Rs 5,664 crore (USD 920.67 million).
At the end of two-hour auction this evening, as many as 83 bids were made in the auction, of which 28 were declared successful.
The debt auction quotas give overseas investors the right to invest in debt up to the limit purchased.

In the last month auction, the total demand was Rs 2,094 crore while the amount available for auction was Rs 646 crore.
Foreign investors have put in over Rs 1.37 lakh crore (USD 22 billion) in the debt market so far in 2014. The equity market has also seen similar trends with overseas fund inflows of over Rs 86,000 crore (USD 14 billion) since the beginning of the year.
Total overseas investments in government debt securities through auction route had touched Rs 1,23,786 crore as on October 17, which is which is 99.48 per cent of total permitted limit of Rs 1,24,432 crore.

As per norms, foreign investors can purchase up to USD 25 billion in government debt without restrictions. Exchanges initiate the auction mechanism once overseas investor reach 90 per cent of that limit.