Foreign Investment in Government Bonds Surges to 82% of Limit

Foreign investors have exhausted 82.47 percent of the available limit of $20 billion in government bonds, according to data published by National Securities Depository Ltd on Thursday.

The surge in utilisation has triggered expectations of a further increase in the cap on foreign investment in government bonds.

Currently, Rs 82,091 crore worth of government bonds have been purchased and only Rs 17,455 crore remain under the $20 billion limit, according to the data.

The government had raised the foreign institutional investment (FII) limit in government bonds by $5 billion to a total of $30 billion last year.

The government debt limit is allocated under two heads - $20 billion for all FIIs and $10 billion for investors like sovereign wealth funds, pension funds, insurance funds and foreign central banks.

Copyright: Thomson Reuters 2014