India bonds drop most in 2 weeks

Mumbai India's benchmark bonds fell the most in two weeks, reversing earlier gains, on concern the government's record borrowing programme will deter investors from adding to their holdings. Yields rose after Reserve Bank of India Governor Duvvuri Subbarao said Wednesday he saw limited scope for cutting interest rates after reducing borrowing costs for the first time since 2009 this week. The Finance Ministry will sell Rs160 billion (Dh11.85 billion) of notes due in 2020, 2024, 2030 and 2041 tomorrow, part of its Rs5.69 trillion debt sale plan for the fiscal year that began April 1. "Bond yields will stay pressured largely due to the huge debt supplies," said Parthasarathi Mukherjee, the Mumbai-based president of treasury and international banking at Axis Bank Ltd. "With luck, we'll see just another 25 basis point rate cut this year." The yield on the 8.79 per cent notes due November 2021 rose five basis points, or 0.05 percentage point, to 8.41 per cent, according to the central bank's trading system. The rate increased the most since April 3. The central bank forecast inflation at 6.5 per cent in March 2013, little changed from last month's 6.89 per cent that was almost twice the pace of price increases in China.