With the latest auction, the government will end up raising nearly Rs 9,500 crore in a single week (including the 364-day treasury bills)--one of the highest in recent times.

Dealers said that the RBI is likely to fix the coupon at 11.70 per cent-11.75 per cent and is likely to be subscribed as it is timed with the inflow of Rs 6,500 crore through the redemption of a three-day repo. Earlier, Rs 6,000 crore flowed in on April 7 due to the redemption of the 12 per cent 1999 and coupon payments on the 11.10 per cent 2003 and the 12.30 per cent 2002.

"The seven-year paper might not draw an overwhelming response like that of the ten-year one auctioned on Tuesday as theseven-year paper is considered to be quite illiquid," ICICI-Securities debt analyst Sandip Deb said. According to dealers there was liquidity in the money market and thus an appropriate time for the RBI to borrow as much as possible for the Government.

The Reserve Bank will conduct three auctions tomorrow--the 14-day and 91-day treasury bills and the seven-year paper. The RBI has already cut the notified amount of both these treasury bills to ensure subscription to longer dated securities.

The central bank kicked off its borrowing programme on April 7 when it auctioned a 10-year paper at 11.99 per cent. The auction drew a huge response as there were bids to the tune of Rs 7,000 crore. This was followed by the private placement-cum-"on tap issue" of a 14-year 12.40 per cent (reissued) stock which again sucked out Rs 3,000 crore on a single day.

On Wednesday, the RBI cut the yield on the 364-day T-bill by 10 basis points to 10 per cent and sucked out Rs 500 crore through the auction.

The Reserve Bankhas a daunting task of raising Rs 84,000 crore for the Government in fiscal 2000 and it is likely to raise a major portion of the amount through longer dated securities.