India: rupee at 93.765 per dollar on Nov 12 as Treasury bill yields ease again

The rupee has gained about 1.7% since its late-October low

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) reference rate is the central bank's daily benchmark exchange rate. On Nov 12 it was 93.765 rupees per US dollar. That was little changed from 93.8075 on Nov 11, but well above the Oct 29 low of 95.3688. The rupee also firmed against other major currencies on Nov 12:

• Euro: 104.67 to 103.84 rupees
• British pound: 125.14 to 124.28 rupees
• Japanese yen: 0.5906 to 0.5866 rupees

These bigger moves mostly reflect the dollar rising against those currencies. They do not show extra rupee strength.

Treasury bill yields eased for a second week after a sharp run-up

Treasury bills are short-term government debt. Their auction yield shows what the government pays to borrow. Yields rose sharply from September through late October. At the Nov 11 auction, the weighted average yields were:

• 91-day: 5.859%, down from 5.887% on Nov 4 and a 5.909% peak on Oct 28. In early September it was about 5.19%.
• 182-day: 6.506%, against 6.514% on Oct 28.
• 364-day: 6.618%, against 6.633%.

Investors bid more at the Nov 11 auction

• 91-day: competitive bids reached ₹270.5bn (billion rupees) against ₹80bn on offer. That was up from ₹204.7bn the week before. Another ₹116bn was sold through non-competitive bids, for ₹192bn issued in total.
• 364-day: bids of ₹215.5bn against ₹70bn on offer, up from ₹113.5bn on Oct 21.
• 182-day: ₹86bn was issued. No bids were accepted at this tenor on Nov 4. At the Oct 21 sale, no bids were accepted for any of the three tenors.

Autopay volumes held steady in October

The National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) reports autopay, the system for recurring automatic debits from bank accounts. In October, State Bank of India executed 46.87m (million) debits as the payer bank, and 98.83% were approved. HDFC Bank executed 41.84m, against 40.70m in September. State Bank of India's registrations rose to 10.0m from 9.55m.