There were few takers for the Reserve Bank of India's special lending facility that was opened this morning to banks to help cash-strapped mutual funds .

The central bank opened a special 14-day repo window of Rs 20,000 crore to enable banks to raise money and lend to the funds, but received only four bids for Rs 3,500 crore. RBI uses the repo route to lend money to banks and enhance liquidity in the system.

Bankers said many lenders have little headroom to tap the special window. Also, the announcement came at short notice for banks to prepare themselves, especially when there is no specific information available on which mutual funds need money, they said. With overnight call rates easing, they also sense an opportunity to raise money at a lower rate in the coming days.

Bankers said they were expecting a 50 basis point reduction in the repo rate. They also expect the central bank to cut, if needed, the statutory liquidity ratio, or the proportion of capital that needs to be invested in designated securities, from the ad-hoc level of 24 per cent at present.

"The first priority is to lend to my other clients instead of giving money to mutual funds. In any case, the RBI has said extending loans to equity-oriented mutual funds will add to my capital market exposure. Why should I do it?" asked a senior public sector bank executive.

Of the Rs 3,500 crore borrowed by banks from the RBI through the 14-day repo, Bank of India accessed Rs 1,400 crore. Bank of Baroda [Get Quote] and Union Bank of India [Get Quote] raised Rs 600-700 crore each, sources said.

While announcing the special repo window this morning, the RBI also lifted the restriction on banks to extend loans against certificate of deposits and buy back the instrument issued by them before the maturity date. The facility is valid for 15 days.

The money raised via the special window at 9 per cent will be used to lend  to mutual funds at around 11 per cent. Banks are not looking at this as a pure commercial transaction but as a measure of systemic support, a senior Bank of India executive said.

The move was announced after the government, RBI and stock market regulator Securities & Exchange Board of India realised that two to three fund houses were facing redemption pressure from corporate investors and the net asset value of many liquid and fixed maturity plans was rapidly eroding.

The step came ahead of the meeting of the liquidity assessment and infusion committee headed by Finance Secretary Arun Ramanathan tomorrow.

The committee will first quantify the liquidity requirement before finalising the steps that need to be taken.

"The idea is to ensure that banks have an assured tap of funds to lend for productive purposes. In this market, cash is king," said a source.