Meaning of Repo, Reverse Repo, CRR, SLR and Bank Rates


interest-rate How many of you read the news last week “RBI increases Repo and Reverse Repo rate by 25 bps” ? For most of us these words do not make sense, and we move on to next news item. Little do we realize that we are affected by these rates and a basic knowledge about it is a must. So let’s first understand what these banking terms means, and then we’ll see how these rates affect a layman. Image Credits UPDATE: The present rates (as of 10th April 2010) are: CRR- 5.75% SLR- 25% Bank Rate- 6% Repo Rate- 5% Reverse Repo Rate- 3.5% UPDATE 2: The present rates (as of 20th April 2010) are: CRR- 6.00% SLR- 25% Bank Rate- 6% Repo Rate- 5.25% Reverse Repo Rate- 3.75% For latest rates check here.

bps

It is an acronym for basis point and is used to indicate changes in rate of interest and other financial instruments. 1 basis point is equal to 0.01%. So when we say that repo rate has been increased by 25 bps, it means that the rate has been increased by 0.25%.

Repo Rate and Bank Rate

People often get confused between these two terms. Though they appear similar there is a basic difference between them. Repo rate or repurchase rate is the rate at which banks borrow money from the central bank (read RBI for India) for short period by selling their securities (financial assets) to the central bank with an agreement to repurchase it at a future date at predetermined price. It is similar to borrowing money from a money-lender by selling him something, and later buying it back at a pre-fixed price. Bank rate is the rate at which banks borrow money from the central bank without any sale of securities. It is generally for a longer period of time. This is similar to borrowing money from someone and paying interest on that amount. Both these rates are determined by the central bank of the country based on the demand and supply of money in the economy.

Reverse Repo Rate

Reverse repo rate is the rate of interest at which the central bank borrows funds from other banks for a short duration. The banks deposit their short term excess funds with the central bank and earn interest on it. Reverse Repo Rate is used by the central bank to absorb liquidity from the economy. When it feels that there is too much money floating in the market, it increases the reverse repo rate, meaning that the central bank will pay a higher rate of interest to the banks for depositing money with it.

CRR (Cash Reserve Ratio)

Banks are required to maintain a percentage of their deposits as cash, meaning that if you deposit Rs. 100/- in your bank, then bank can’t use the entire Rs. 100/- for lending or investment purpose. They have to maintain a portion of the deposit as cash and can use only the remaining amount for lending/investment. This minimum percentage which is determined by the central bank is known as Cash Reserve Ratio. So if CRR is 6% then it means for every Rs. 100/- deposited in bank, it has to maintain a minimum of Rs. 6/- as cash. However banks do not keep this cash with them, but are required to deposit it with the central bank, so that it can help them with cash at the time of need.

SLR (Statutory Liquidity Ratio)

Apart from keeping a portion of deposits with the RBI as cash, banks are also required to maintain a minimum percentage of deposits with them at the end of every business day, in the form of gold, cash, government bonds or other approved securities. This minimum percentage is called Statutory Liquidity Ratio. Example If you deposit Rs. 100/- in bank, CRR being 6% and SLR being 8%, then bank can use 100-6-8= Rs. 84/- 86/- for giving loan or for investment purpose.

How it effects us

Having understood the meaning of these banking terms, let us now see how we are affected by increase/decrease of these rates. The central bank uses these rates to control inflation. All About Inflation Inflation and Types of Inflation Banks earn profit by borrowing at a lower rate of interest from the central bank, and lending the same amount at a higher rate to the customers. If the repo rate or the bank rate is increased, bank has to pay more interest to the central bank. So in order to make profit, banks in turn increase their interest rate at which they take deposit from the customer and lend money to the customer. So the demand for loan decreases, and people start putting more and more money in bank accounts to earn higher rate of interest. This helps in controlling inflation. An increase in Reverse repo rate causes the banks to transfer more funds to the central bank, because banks earn attractive interest rates and also their money is in safe hands. This results in the money being drawn out of the banking system, thus banks are left with lesser funds. Thus, by lowering repo rate, central bank injects liquidity in the banking system and by increasing reverse repo rate it absorbs liquidity from the banking system. Increase in SLR and CRR rate means that banks will have less power to give loans (see our example above), which again controls amount of money floating in the market; thereby controlling inflation. It also makes banks safer to keep money because banks will have a higher liquidity to meet the demand of customers. As we learnt from the recession, giving loans expose banks to great risks. So if banks have lesser funds to give as loan, they become relatively safer.

Conclusion

Thus we conclude that the central bank of a country uses these rates to fight inflation and to keep a check on economy. I’m sure you’ll also want to know the meaning of numbers written on debit and credit cards and also the meaning of numbers written at the bottom of a cheque – two of the most read articles on Knowledge Hub. If you have something to add, or have some questions, feel free to use the comment form below. Follow KnowledgeHub on twitter @knwhub to receive latest tweets. Follow me on twitter @anshuldixit.

110 Responses to “Meaning of Repo, Reverse Repo, CRR, SLR and Bank Rates”

  1. Vinayak
    March 24, 2010 at 2:44 pm #

    awesome
    its very good
    keep blogging dude

    Reply
    • swetha
      July 11, 2012 at 8:47 pm #

      Nice info…. i completely understood d meaning :)

      Can i get some info on the changes in the monetary policy from the last year?

      Reply
    • Nilanjan Majumder
      September 22, 2012 at 8:09 pm #

      You have done excellent job to make us understand all the stuffs.
      It will be helpful for my coming banking exam.

      Thanks a ton.

      Reply
  2. VeeKay
    March 24, 2010 at 7:22 pm #

    Nice work man..informative post..good work..:)

    Reply
  3. Pooja Menon
    March 29, 2010 at 1:02 pm #

    That's simply some great work that you've done. Being a management student who's specialized in finance I understand how important it is to know this! :)

    Reply
  4. abhi
    April 3, 2010 at 2:27 am #

    really very helpful to know the basic terminologies

    thanks a lot

    Reply
  5. Anshul
    April 3, 2010 at 2:55 am #

    @Vinayak: Thanks buddy.. and thanks for being a regular visitor :)

    @ Vamsi: Glad you found it useful. Hope to see you here often :)

    @ Abhi: The pleasure is all mine :)

    Reply
  6. Anshul
    April 3, 2010 at 3:01 am #

    @ Pooja
    You are right Pooja. It is really important to have some knowledge of these terms, as directly or undirectly they affect us.
    Thanks for your valuable comments. :)

    Reply
  7. Anonymous
    April 6, 2010 at 8:23 pm #

    can u tell what are the current rev repo rate,repo rate,bank rate etc?

    Reply
    • Gaurav Arya
      February 15, 2012 at 12:22 am #

      feb 14, 2012 at12:21 Am #

      @ Above…
      Present rates are:
      CRR: 5.50%
      SLR: 24%
      Bank Rate: 9.50%
      Repo Rate:8.50%
      Reverse Repo Rate: 7.50%
      I
      Hope that helps you.

      Reply
      • uma
        April 3, 2012 at 12:27 pm #

        CRR- 4.75%
        SLR – 24%

        Reply
  8. Anshul
    April 6, 2010 at 9:31 pm #

    @ Above…
    Present rates are:
    CRR: 5.75%
    SLR: 25%
    Bank Rate: 6%
    Repo Rate: 5%
    Reverse Repo Rate: 3.5%

    Hope that helps you.

    Reply
  9. Repspace.com
    April 13, 2010 at 4:30 am #

    it is nice rate for us to plan the future according our financial capability. thanks

    Reply
  10. Rathka
    April 27, 2010 at 12:36 am #

    Really good information thanks kepp it up

    Reply
  11. Anshul
    April 27, 2010 at 9:34 am #

    Thanks for joining the discussion Rathka

    Reply
  12. raj
    May 4, 2010 at 3:39 pm #

    Perfect and can be understood by any one.
    Thanks a lot dear.

    Reply
  13. Cash Bad Credit
    September 4, 2010 at 3:30 pm #

    These terms are used very often used in financial magazines and articles. Very useful post for all people who are weak in finance.

    Reply
  14. Anonymous
    September 25, 2010 at 8:13 pm #

    log on to rbi site n u can knw all d details

    Reply
  15. Anshul
    September 25, 2010 at 8:25 pm #

    @ ^^
    Finding information on RBI site is in itself a big task. And then the information provided there can be understood by people with finance background, but not by a layman.

    Reply
  16. tulasi
    September 29, 2010 at 8:42 pm #

    hi sir, its very helpful to me. thank u very much. as i was computer student suddenly i have shifted to finance, it is very difficult to me. but u made my way ease. pls post the freuently used terminologies . it would b helpful.. thank u soo much..

    Reply
  17. charu
    September 30, 2010 at 9:54 pm #

    thanks alot!!!!! the language iz quite lucid and easy to understand …

    Reply
  18. NEERAJ
    October 4, 2010 at 6:48 pm #

    IT IS VERY HELPFUL TO KNOW ABOUT THE BASIC TERMS OF FINANCIAL SECTORS WHICH WE OFTEN DO NOT CARE.

    Reply
  19. Bikram
    December 6, 2010 at 7:40 am #

    Details on the financial terms are awesome and very lucid. Kindly tell me about the current rates CRR SLR Repo Rev-repo Bank rate and inflation rate.

    Reply
  20. Anonymous
    February 6, 2011 at 5:47 pm #

    explanations with nice examples

    Reply
  21. rp
    February 12, 2011 at 10:56 am #

    It is very useful to every one who don't know the minimum knowledge on banking terms

    ………..Raj.C.Prasad

    Reply
  22. Anonymous
    February 21, 2011 at 12:08 am #

    dear sir,
    thanks a lot for this article.
    but will it possible for you to explain the concept of how the buy and sale of securities take place in repo and reverse repo market? for eg say if bank x or rbi has govt security worth rs 100 today, how
    will the money value of govt security vary in the cycle of give and take between bank and rbi?

    Reply
  23. MADHVI SINGH , BHIWANI
    April 26, 2011 at 2:58 pm #

    THANX I GOT A GREAT KNOWLEGE AFTER STUDING THE ABOVE TOPIC……

    Reply
  24. Rutvij
    April 30, 2011 at 9:25 pm #

    Thanks a lot…. indeed knowledgeable ..

    Reply
  25. Anonymous
    May 20, 2011 at 7:37 pm #

    thanks a lot ….. it was realy easy and easile understandeable to each and every category of person….. i have got a huge knowledge about bank rates and its effects

    Reply
  26. Samir
    June 28, 2011 at 4:07 pm #

    After reading this article, i feel better about these terms.

    Reply
  27. m
    July 22, 2011 at 8:17 pm #

    mohammed asif valsangkar,
    thanks for giving information in simple terms with simple examples it works……

    Reply
    • Vikram
      March 9, 2012 at 12:57 pm #

      Simple and informative.. Thanks…

      Reply
  28. girish
    July 24, 2011 at 10:27 am #

    hey dude its really valuable fundamentals in banking sectors…thk u so much for updating this information……

    Reply
  29. Anonymous
    August 16, 2011 at 9:51 pm #

    what is the reserve repo rate now

    Reply
  30. Sandeep pareek
    August 18, 2011 at 11:39 pm #

    this is really good . . . awesome article.. superlike…

    Reply
  31. Anonymous
    September 15, 2011 at 11:02 am #

    THANKS ANSHUL,
    FOR GAVE THIS KNOWLEDGE WHICH VERY IMP IN
    FUTURE, BY GIVING EASY EXAMPLE..

    Reply
  32. Priyanka das
    September 16, 2011 at 11:22 pm #

    Too good!! Explained in such lucid language..
    The starting paragraph itself attracted me..Keep up the good work.:)

    Reply
  33. NITIN KUMAR SONI
    October 8, 2011 at 6:00 pm #

    Really nice detailed note on important issues of banking terminology it surely help the students preparing for various banking exams.
    Thanks for giving such a useful information.

    Reply
  34. Anonymous
    October 9, 2011 at 9:33 pm #

    thanks

    Reply
  35. Parkar7
    October 13, 2011 at 10:22 pm #

    it was very helpfulll…….
    hav my eco paper 2row….

    Reply
  36. Pankaj
    October 16, 2011 at 9:22 pm #

    tHanks

    Reply
  37. Anonymous
    October 18, 2011 at 12:58 am #

    Saranya..

    Thank you very much..I went through many sites but I cud not find the banking terms so understanding and beautifully said with examples..Really great job.It helps me 4 preparing 4 my banking exams..Really u r helping a lot of students…!

    Can any1 say what is liability,NEFT,RTGS..I am a technology student..So simple meaning will b helpful…

    Reply
    • rigzin
      February 29, 2012 at 10:10 pm #

      neft-national eletronic fund transfer rtgs-real time gross settlement system

      Reply
  38. durgaganesh
    November 17, 2011 at 12:26 pm #

    ….I have see these sight…….i have gain proper and meaningful information……this is very impotent for us……..bcz i am management student thank Q so much………..

    Reply
    • durgaganesh
      November 17, 2011 at 12:29 pm #

      Beautiful…..frm management students……….thank you again and again

      Reply
  39. durgaganesh
    November 17, 2011 at 12:43 pm #

    it is very helpful because it is providing……..updated information and clear understanding information………thank you

    Reply
  40. Rajeev patna
    December 3, 2011 at 2:38 pm #

    Good work its help me lots to understand things

    Reply
  41. Sarfaraz A
    December 5, 2011 at 4:50 pm #

    Excellent work, I use to read about it but always use to forget. But the way u have explained in such a simple, lucid language, I feel i will never forget it. Hats off to u…

    Reply
  42. sdivya
    December 28, 2011 at 4:48 pm #

    Thank you so much for such a useful stuff…..

    Reply
  43. SUMAN
    December 29, 2011 at 6:24 pm #

    great info dude keep blogging

    Reply
  44. MURALIDHARAN
    January 21, 2012 at 10:33 pm #

    excellent.. simple, lucid and explanatory…thank u……

    Reply
  45. Kamini Gangurde
    January 23, 2012 at 11:17 am #

    its really nice that u have the information in very precised manner…
    its really going to help me out…
    thanks a ton

    Reply
  46. Madhavan
    January 24, 2012 at 9:57 pm #

    Great Info dude..

    Reply
  47. gourav
    January 26, 2012 at 4:32 pm #

    thanks bro… its really very useful… keep up the good work.. thanks a lot..

    Reply
  48. Priyanka
    February 5, 2012 at 10:35 pm #

    Seriously great job,,,,,,
    Ur information is rili very helpful…..:))

    Reply
    • Anshul
      February 29, 2012 at 10:36 am #

      Glad you found this helpful, Priyanka :-)

      Reply
  49. Bidur
    February 11, 2012 at 6:50 pm #

    Thanks lot for helping…

    Reply
  50. Prathmesh
    February 15, 2012 at 4:54 pm #

    Nice job….This info really helps……thanks….

    Reply
  51. M R Priya
    March 3, 2012 at 12:08 pm #

    Thank you . u gave meaning with example. it is so informative. nice work done by u. thank u brother………………….

    Reply
  52. ankit poonia
    March 10, 2012 at 4:57 am #

    thanx buddy.
    god bless you.

    Reply
  53. kiran
    March 27, 2012 at 11:11 am #

    nice one…

    Reply
  54. Aayushi Sinha
    March 28, 2012 at 2:33 pm #

    The example given for SLR is confusing me. If we deposit Rs 100 in bank, CRR being 6% n SLR being 8% , then cash available with bank is 100-6-8= 86 instead of 84 !!

    Reply
    • Anshul
      March 28, 2012 at 6:18 pm #

      Thanks for pointing that out Aayushi. I have corrected it.

      I am impressed by your attention to details :-) . No one noticed this mistake till now!

      Reply
      • Aayushi Sinha
        April 1, 2012 at 11:07 am #

        You are welcome. I must admit the explanation of the ‘banking terms’ in simple language is very helpful, specially for non-bankers. It helped me a lot!

        Reply
        • Anshul
          April 1, 2012 at 2:19 pm #

          I’m glad you found this useful. :)

          Reply
          • Saftain
            April 5, 2012 at 4:51 pm #

            Sime and understandable even for a lay man, this should be major charactoristic of every write to write as simple as he / she can to bless others with stuff being shared. Good work, i appreciate.

          • mahesh
            April 16, 2012 at 7:54 pm #

            this one is too much worth for me . Thank u dude

  55. RENGA
    April 10, 2012 at 12:44 am #

    Nice i have get some useful information from this

    Reply
  56. Nayan roy ghatak
    April 24, 2012 at 1:51 pm #

    Congrats and thanks …… it has generated much interest, curiosity and knowladge. keep it up….

    Reply
  57. mahesh
    April 25, 2012 at 9:39 pm #

    thnx anshul easy to understand..
    ths month all these rates are changed..
    crr 4.75%
    slr 24%
    repo rate 8%
    revers repo rate 7%
    bank rate 9%

    Reply
    • Anshul
      April 26, 2012 at 7:20 am #

      Thanks for providing the updated rates Mahesh.

      Reply
  58. edmond vb hlychho
    April 28, 2012 at 12:11 am #

    Hello Sir,
    if you please help me with my humble question,i would be greatful.
    Q.Sir in case of Reverse Repo Rate,who will make the rates for this(The Central Bank or the non-Govt. Bank)

    Reply
    • Anshul
      April 28, 2012 at 9:22 pm #

      These rates are decided by the central bank. Also, now the reverse repo rate is kept 100 bps points below repo rate.

      Reply
  59. Ishant jain
    April 29, 2012 at 9:48 pm #

    i’d never thought that learning these terms would be this much easy..thanx…:)

    Reply
  60. RAO
    May 12, 2012 at 10:59 pm #

    its very informative and easy to understand. thanks bye

    Reply
  61. rajan
    May 22, 2012 at 8:03 am #

    thanks buddy….it was very helpful…. :) :)

    Reply
  62. Diptiranjan behera
    May 22, 2012 at 8:48 am #

    u really made these terms easier for me
    thnx a lot……

    Reply
  63. s. nandi
    June 8, 2012 at 5:50 pm #

    good work, very helpful and informative, thanks

    Reply
  64. Ranjith
    June 9, 2012 at 3:42 pm #

    Really more useful information… Everyone easily understand the definitions of al the banking terms u mentioned here… Pls provide some mathematical examples to understand each term more clearly…

    Reply
  65. ankit
    June 11, 2012 at 9:43 pm #

    wow man what a way of explaining
    superb

    Reply
  66. BALA
    June 15, 2012 at 2:15 pm #

    Marvellous explanation… Crystal clear….

    Reply
  67. aastha
    June 20, 2012 at 6:44 pm #

    very useful information .thanks buddy.

    Reply
  68. ASWATHY NAIR
    June 27, 2012 at 1:49 pm #

    IT IS VERY GOOD TO INCREASE THE BEST WAY TO KNOW ABOUT THE REPO RATE IN A VERY EASIER WAY

    Reply
  69. ruchi
    June 27, 2012 at 2:10 pm #

    thank a lot.
    i was bit confused with the terms,but now its clear.

    Reply
  70. Jayesh
    July 31, 2012 at 2:26 pm #

    Thanx a lot for simplifying the terms and framing it with example ……..!!

    Reply
  71. rashed
    July 31, 2012 at 11:58 pm #

    thankz a lot bro. i searched these thing in many site bt they have complicated theses terms. bro it wold be helpful if u describe “convertible bond, floating crg. fixed charge” nd “pledge & hyphenation”

    Reply
  72. himani singh
    August 9, 2012 at 11:44 am #

    it’s really relly nice….thank u..

    Reply
  73. nibha
    August 12, 2012 at 5:00 pm #

    i m 100percnt. Satisfied from u r teaching style.thnk you

    Reply
  74. monika
    August 12, 2012 at 10:00 pm #

    easily understandable explanation…i have thoroughly understood it

    Reply
  75. jasmine sondh
    August 13, 2012 at 8:40 pm #

    thanks…….plz tell me about the diffrence betwen comerical depost n comercial paper……….

    Reply
  76. anu
    August 16, 2012 at 10:55 pm #

    all dis informations are really awsome. thanks for dat.
    could u plz tell me about marginal standing facility…

    Reply
  77. deepika
    August 17, 2012 at 11:00 am #

    it s really helpful and easier to learn basic terms of banking from this site. thank you

    Reply
  78. Sabi
    August 18, 2012 at 10:53 pm #

    Nice explanation …..also maximum SLR is 40% but it is maintained by RBI at its minimum level so as to inject required liquidity in economy

    Reply
    • Anshul
      August 20, 2012 at 9:23 pm #

      Thanks for this piece of information Sabi :)

      Reply
  79. ravindra parashar
    August 21, 2012 at 2:09 pm #

    thank you ….

    Reply
  80. naresh mehta
    September 8, 2012 at 2:51 pm #

    Very simple and informative…..thnx a loT!

    Reply
  81. abhishek Brahme
    September 23, 2012 at 8:45 pm #

    Thanks
    it so helpful and knowledgeable for all of us

    Reply
  82. MADHULIKA SRIVASTAVA
    September 28, 2012 at 4:31 pm #

    THANKS ALOT I TOTTLY UNDERSTAND THIS BUT MAY I KNOW THE CURRENT % ABOUT BANKRATE CRR AND SLR…

    Reply
  83. KASIVISWALINGAM P
    October 19, 2012 at 6:33 am #

    As a retired State Bank official I would like to express my heartfelt appreciation to the author of this article for bringing in valuable facts-Terrminology for the knowledge of many who sees it. Infact I used to see in the news paper that RBI has changed the bps upwards / downwords saying in 25 50 75 etc but never the current rates prevailing and how this will help or affect the Banks / Economy. I am sure the News agencies who publicise such an announcements should make it a point to describe them clearly in the interest Publics who will be benefitted by such informations.

    Though at the top level executives such informations are vital for their daytoday financial decisions the necessity for the common public doesnot arise. However the information is necessary for the knowledge.

    Thanks for the provision for feed back

    Reply
    • Anshul
      October 24, 2012 at 5:19 pm #

      Thank you Sir for your feedback :)

      Reply
  84. Ramya
    October 24, 2012 at 6:04 pm #

    Hie anshul…I have a doubt…why we use repo rate and inverse repo rate???it may be opposite term explaining opposite meaning…but as you explained we can decrease the repo rate to increase the liquidity and increase the reverse repo rate to absorb the liquidity but wht will happen if we increase the repo rate????dont it mean the same with increase in repo rate?????

    Reply
  85. Joe George
    December 27, 2012 at 8:20 am #

    It is a good information. I was really searching for this type of reports and find it. It is awesome.

    Reply
  86. Karan
    January 30, 2013 at 9:02 am #

    thanks dude!! extremely helpful bit of information for finance brain dead people like me :-)

    thanks a lot…

    Reply
  87. Ashish Ghosh
    January 30, 2013 at 10:50 am #

    Nice elaboration of the financial jargons….all in a nutshell…..extremely beneficial!!!

    Reply
  88. Ashish Ghosh
    January 30, 2013 at 10:53 am #

    just to give an update on the rates…..here they go:-

    Bank Rate-8.75%
    CRR-4%
    SLR-23%
    REPO RATE-7.75%
    REVERSE REPO-6.75%
    MSF-8.75%

    Reply
    • Anshul
      February 21, 2013 at 11:09 am #

      Thanks a lot Ashish :) I have updated the post.

      Reply
  89. Ravi thakur
    February 6, 2013 at 8:50 pm #

    nice info

    Reply
  90. jyoti
    February 7, 2013 at 8:40 am #

    very nice………..fully understandable………….

    Reply
  91. srujal shah
    March 1, 2013 at 7:19 am #

    can any bank can get interest on deposit of CRR from RBI?????

    Reply
  92. nazer palar
    March 19, 2013 at 3:27 pm #

    very nice, help it me to know more about our banking system. thanks

    Reply

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