Policy Pulse - Ministries & Regulators - 09 Oct 2026

RBI Tightens Daily CRR Maintenance to 99% and Lines Up Rs 25,000 Crore of Bond Sales

The Reserve Bank of India on October 9 raised the minimum daily maintenance of the cash reserve ratio to 99% of the required level, from 90%, effective the fortnight beginning October 16. It separately announced open market bond sales of Rs 25,000 crore (about USD 2.58 billion) for Tuesday, targeting notes maturing between fiscal 2030 and fiscal 2035 (the 7.88% 2030, 6.10% 2031, 7.95% 2032, 7.26% 2033, 7.18% 2033 and 7.10% 2034).

• The move follows the October 7 MPC, which raised the repo rate 25 bp to 5.50% — the first hike since February 2023 — and switched the stance from neutral to "calibrated tightening" (4-2). SDF 5.25%; MSF and bank rate 5.75%.
• Governor Sanjay Malhotra said headline CPI is expected to average about 5.8% over the next three quarters and that rate cuts are "off the table" near term; FY27 real GDP growth was revised up to 7.1%.
• The trigger is liquidity, not demand: the banking system has run a surplus averaging about Rs 7.3 lakh crore (roughly 2.7% of deposits) since early September, generated largely by about USD 144 billion of dollar inflows from one-off swap schemes. Malhotra expects most of it to be absorbed within the financial year.
• IDFC First Bank's Gaura Sengupta said the 99% daily rule "limits this flexibility" but is "unlikely to result in a significant liquidity drain." The government bond curve is the transmission channel to watch.

SEBI Mandates a Colour-Coded Credit Risk-o-Meter — and Overhauls Settlement

The capital-markets regulator issued a run of circulars in the first week of October that reshape debt-market disclosure and enforcement.

• Credit Risk-o-Meter (October 8): a mandatory, colour-coded risk indicator for debt securities. SEBI ratings from AAA to D are mapped to six risk levels; it must appear in offer documents, abridged prospectuses, private placement memorandums, advertisements and Online Bond Platform Providers' web and mobile platforms. OBPPs must update within 24 hours, manual overrides are barred, and audit trails are required. Effective 45 days from issue.
• Settlement Regulations, 2026 (notified October 6): a revised formula for settlement amounts, a fast-track route for cases up to Rs 10 lakh, and separate disgorgement of wrongful gains to remove double counting.
• Merchant-banker relief (October 7): eligible listed debt issuers — registered with SEBI, RBI, IRDAI or PFRDA and listed at least a year, with no defaults in three years and a rating of at least AA- — can skip appointing a merchant banker for private placements at a face value of Rs 10,000, with immediate effect.
• Project Jagrook (October 5-31): brokers must display SEBI investor-awareness messages on websites and trading apps; from November 1 the messages plus risk disclosures must be on the landing page of trading apps on alternate days.

The Department of Pharmaceuticals Caps Cancer-Drug Trade Margins at 30%

The National Pharmaceutical Pricing Authority, at its 151st meeting under the DPCO 2013 on October 8, approved in principle a 30% trade-margin cap on non-scheduled anti-cancer drugs, invoked under Paragraph 19 in the public interest. PIB and the Department of Pharmaceuticals name no company.

• The cap covers branded and generic, domestic and imported, patented and non-patented medicines outside the scheduled price-control list — roughly 110 drugs, 35 of them patented. A DGHS expert committee must submit the positive list by October 14.
• NPPA found non-scheduled anti-cancer drugs carry an average trade mark-up of about 170%, up to 700% in some cases. It expects MRP cuts of 20-70% and patient savings of about Rs 2,500 crore a year; the market is about 225 drugs and 500 formulations, roughly Rs 12,500 crore of annual turnover.
• The 2019 precedent covered 42 drugs and cut the MRP of 526 brands by up to 91%, for savings of about Rs 984 crore. Because only the trade margin is regulated, manufacturers' selling prices and revenues are unaffected — the squeeze is on the distribution chain.

Market reaction: hospital and pharma stocks rallied as the 30% cap proved softer than the 16% margin framework the Supreme Court had floated. Apollo Hospitals +4.72%, Fortis +5%, Max Healthcare +4.4%, Global Health (Medanta) +3.2%, Manipal +3%, Aster +2.5%; HCG was the outlier, down about 5.2%. ICICI Securities sees a 2-4% hospital EBITDA impact; Jefferies stays constructive; Goldman Sachs estimates these drugs are under 5% of hospital revenue and 2-2.5% of operating profit.

Defence: A BrahMos Order, 840 Loitering Munitions, and a USD 25 Billion Industry Pitch

Defence procurement and policy produced three concrete items across October 6-9.

• The Ministry of Defence signed a Rs 661.50-crore contract with BrahMos Aerospace on October 6 for fire-control systems and launchers for Indian Navy ships, under the Buy (Indian-IDDM) category, with a 68% indigenous-content floor and delivery over three years.
• The Indian Army contracted roughly Rs 1,577 crore for 840 loitering munitions — 480 from Tata Advanced Systems and 360 from NIBE — with deliveries expected within about 12 months.
• At the SIDM Annual Conference on October 9, Defence Secretary Rajesh Kumar Singh said the Multi-Role Fighter Aircraft and jet-engine co-production programmes are "being processed at the highest levels," with some contracts targeted to be signed within this calendar year, and that DRDO will transfer conventional missile technology to private industry by November 2027. He framed a USD 25 billion domestic industry opportunity.

Washington's PERM Freeze Lands on Indian IT — and the Sector Rallies Anyway

The US Labor Department's October 8 suspension of Microsoft, Adobe and six large IT outsourcers from the PERM green-card programme names four Indian-listed firms — TCS, Infosys, Wipro and HCLTech — plus Cognizant and Capgemini.

• Analysts said the immediate operational impact is limited because existing H-1B employment is unaffected, but warned of higher localisation and compliance costs over time.
• Investors looked through it: the Nifty IT index rose about 3%, led by TCS after its Q2 beat. The structural read is a slow tilt from on-site visa staffing toward local hiring and offshore delivery.

Market Context: A Relief Rally Snaps an Eight-Week Losing Streak

Indian equities bounced on October 9 after two down days, led by IT and consumption.

• Sensex +879.09 points (+1.23%) to 72,472.33; Nifty 50 +288.65 (+1.30%) to 22,520.45 — the Nifty's first weekly gain in eight weeks (Sensex +0.78%, Nifty +0.43% for the week). Intraday, the Sensex touched 72,669.20.
• Nifty IT was the best sector (~+3%), followed by FMCG (+2.2-2.4%). Nifty Oil & Gas was the sole laggard as Brent eased. Top Nifty gainers: Apollo Hospitals +4.72%, ITC +4.78% (on a Rs 9,395-crore GQG block sale), Eicher Motors +4.17%, TCS +4.23%, HCLTech +3.38%; Adani Ports +3.10%. Losers: BSE -1.43%, Reliance -0.65%, JSW Steel -0.61%.
• Rupee ended at about 96.73-96.88 against the dollar, still near its record low; India VIX fell to 14.36. FIIs sold Rs 3,569 crore (down sharply from Rs 12,944 crore on October 8), while DIIs bought Rs 4,743 crore, a third straight session of domestic support.
• Primary market: Jio Platforms set an IPO price band of Rs 1,065-1,119 for a record Rs 30,200-crore issue — India's largest ever — with the anchor book on October 19, subscription October 21-23 and listing around October 28. The first nine months of 2026 raised over Rs 1.21 lakh crore across 275 IPOs, with Rs 94,205 crore in the first half of FY27 alone.

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