10-year gilt yield tops 7 per cent, hits 20-month high

MUMBAI : As the stock and the forex market witnessed huge volatility on Monday, the benchmark yield on 10-year govt securities (G-Secs) jumped to close fiscal 2025-26 (FY26) above the 7 per cent mark, a level not seen since July 2024. During March, the benchmark yields rose 37 basis points (100 basis points = 1 percentage point), the biggest jump since Feb 2017, a Reuters story noted.

On Friday evening, the govt had announced its half-yearly plan for borrowing from the market with the total pegged at Rs 8.2 lakh crore. Bond dealers said the plan matched the market’s expectations, and the choice of papers in the borrowing calendar was selected judiciously so that yields would not harden much during FY27.

Monday was also the last trading session for FY26. During the year in the money market, quite a few unique milestones were reached, and some records were set.

It was for the first time ever that the RBI infused a record Rs 10 lakh crore liquidity into the system through a combination of open market operations and foreign exchange swaps. The central bank also drastically cut the cash reserve ratio to 3 per cent, a historic low level.

The year also saw the monetary policy committee cutting policy (repo) rate by 100 basis points (= 1 percentage point) to 5.25 per cent, aimed at spurring growth with low interest rates in the economy.

During FY26, the RBI, for the first time in history, changed its monetary policy stance from ‘neutral’ to ‘accommodative’ to ‘neutral’ again within a span of just two policy meetings, between April and June.