Banks on Monday made use of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) offer to borrow funds from the special repo window even though they were unable to maintain the statutory liquidity ratio (SLR) at 25%. Instead, they kept it around 24.5%.

According to data put on RBI website, banks picked up Rs 4,250 crore by pledging government securities. While the amount was not significant, it should be mentioned that the amount available in the reverse repo window has come off sharply to Rs 540 crore. Over the past six months, the money lying in this window has been around Rs 70,000 crore, but this dropped to Rs 5,000 crore on May 26, 2010.

The main reason for the outflow is the telecom companies? payment towards the government a sum of Rs 67,000 crore for 3G licences, and most of this money has been funded by various banks.

Says Ananth Narayan, MD & head of rates for South Asia financial markets with Standard Chartered Bank, ?Bankers have started making use of the special scheme by the RBI, but the amounts weren?t too significant. The overnight call rates rose to 5-5.25%, indicating some slight pressure on liquidity. We will have to see how the next fortnight pans out when there could be an outflow of Rs 30,000-40,000 crore on account of advance tax payments.?

Late last Wednesday, RBI announced a move to infuse liquidity into the system by allowing banks to maintain a lower statutory liquidity ratio (SLR) of 50 basis points on an ad hoc basis. ?This measure can create a headroom for Rs 20,000 crore and would have a positive impact on liquidity. Bankers believe that the facility will keep liquidity intact,? he said.

M Narendra, executive director of Bank of India, said, ?Our bank?s exposure to companies that have bid for 3G licences is Rs 2,000 crore. But, we don?t need the facility as of now as we still have ample liquidity.”

Meanwhile, State Bank of India?s (SBI) CFO SS Ranjan said the bank had excess SLR. ? So far, we have already funded Rs 10,000-12,000 crore for 3G licences, but still have surplus liquidity of Rs 20,000-25,000 crore.?

The central bank has assured bankers that it will ensure adequate liquidity in the system.