NSE to auction government bonds worth Rs 617 cr on 23 Feb

New Delhi: Leading bourse National Stock Exchange (NSE) will auction government debt securities worth Rs 617 crore for overseas investors next week, whose total investment has crossed 99 per cent of the permitted limit.The auction would be conducted for overseas investors at 'nse-ebid' platform for government debt securities, as per information provided by the bourse. [caption id="attachment_2087701" align="alignleft" width="380"] Representational image. Reuters[/caption]The total overseas investments in government debt securities through auction route has touched Rs 1,23,815 crore till yesterday, which is which is 99.5 percent of total permitted limit of Rs 1,24,432 crore."Consequently, exchange shall conduct an auction for the allocation of unutilised debt limits on February 23, 2015," NSE said in a circular.The auction will begin at 1530 hours and close at 1730 hours. A mock bidding session would be conducted on Friday, 20 February, to check the system performance. The debt auction quota give overseas investors the right to invest in debt up to the limit purchased.Earlier this month, BSE had conducted auction for government bonds worth Rs 310 crore, which attracted bids to the tune of Rs 813 crore. Foreign investors have so far put in over Rs 29,000 crore in the debt market in 2015. The equity market has also seen similar trends with overseas fund inflows of close to Rs 16,000 crore since the beginning of the year.According to market experts, overseas investors have been pumping money in the country's debt market primarily on account of government's reforms agenda and the RBI's rate cut measure.As per norms, foreign investors can purchase up to $25 billion in government debt without restrictions. Exchanges initiate the auction mechanism once overseas investors reach 90 percent of that limit. PTI