The Reserve Bank of India has reduced the market hours for currency, government securities and other markets from April 7 to April 17 due to the unprecedented situation that has emerged due to the spread of coronavirus.
Call money market, government securities market, currency market, and many others which typically opens at 9 a.m. and closes at 5 p.m. will mostly now be open between 10 a.m. and 2 p.m.
“The unprecedented situation created by the COVID-19 outbreak has necessitated lockdowns, social distancing, restrictions on movement of people and non-essential activities, work from home arrangements and business continuity plans. The resultant dislocations have adversely impacted the functioning of financial markets. Staff and IT resources have been severely affected, posing operational and logistic risks. The thinning out of activity is impacting market liquidity and increasing volatility of financial prices,” RBI said.
“In order to minimise these risks and to ensure that market participants maintain adequate checks and supervisory controls while optimising thin resources and ensuring safety of personnel, it has been decided to revise trading hours for various markets,” RBI said.
