The apex bank, which had mopped up only Rs 112 crore on Monday and Wednesday, mopped up Rs 680 crore on Thursday. The 11.55 per cent gilt maturing in 2001, which was put out at the sale window at 11.07 per cent, was bought by a few banks today. In fact, most of the money that the RBI has mopped up through the OMO is through the sale of this security.

The other securities that have been put out but are receiving a lukewarm response include the 11.75 per cent gilt maturing in 2003, the 11.90 per cent gilt maturing in 2007 and the 12.15 per cent gilt maturing in 2008. A few deals were struck in the 11.75 per cent 2003 gilt, but most were for a few lakhs.

"When a three-year security is available forthe same coupon, why should one put money in the five-year paper," a money market analyst in a leading brokerage house said.

The RBI had launched an aggresive OMO as it wanted to mop up excess liquidity from the system. It had put out four newly auctioned securities at attractive prices. "While three of the securities devolved in the current fiscal, the fourth one was placed privately with the RBI in March 1998," an analyst said. If the RBI succeeds in selling the entire corpus through the OMO, it will be able to mop up Rs 8,000 crore. This will bring the monestisation figure down by an identical amount. At present, monetisation is pegged at 15,700 crore.

The RBI's OMO also indicates that the government is unlikely to come out with an auction now. It has already completed Rs 41,000 crore out of a targeted gross borrowing programme of Rs 79,000 crore for the current fiscal.

Out of Rs 41,000 crore, the RBI had taken Rs 16,000 crore in its own books.