Money markets to remain closed on Jan 22: RBI

The Reserve Bank of India has announced that the money markets will remain closed on January 22, in lieu of the holiday declared by the Maharashtra government to facilitate its denizens participate and involve in the consecration of the Ram Mandir in Ayodhya.

Mumbai:Money markets will remain closed on January 22, with the Maharashtra government announcing a holiday in connection with the consecration of the Ram temple in Ayodhya, officials from the Reserve Bank of India said.

The Maharashtra government has declared January 22 as a public holiday. So, there will be no transactions and settlements in government securities (primary and secondary), foreign exchange, money markets and rupee interest rate derivatives on that day, the Central bank said in a fresh circular on Friday.

The Reserve Bank had modified its earlier circular wherein it had said that trading in money markets will be deferred to 2.30 pm instead of 9 am on January 22, as per the half-day holiday declared by the Government of India to its employees.

The RBI, in its statement, said the three-day Variable Rate Repo (VRR) auction conducted on Friday with date of reversal on January 22 will now be reversed on January 23.

It also said that the three-day VRR auction announced earlier in the day would stand cancelled.

Instead, a two-day VRR auction will be conducted on January 23.

Public sector banks, insurance companies, financial institutions and Regional Rural Banks (RRBs) across the country will remain closed for half-day on January 22.

As per the notification issued by the Department of Personnel and Training, the central government establishment will remain closed for half-day to facilitate the celebration of the grand consecration of Ram temple.