The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has raised the minimum daily cash reserve ratio (CRR) maintenance requirement to 99% from 90%, effective from the fortnight beginning October 16. The move will reduce banks’ flexibility in managing their daily reserve requirements and could push up overnight borrowing rates, market participants said. “The operational flexibility was that a bank could maintain the CRR at a minimum of 90% on any given day, provided the fortnightly average remained 100%. That flexibility has now been withdrawn. Under the new notification, banks must maintain at least 99% of the required CRR every day, eliminating much of the ability to average daily balances across the fortnight,” said Gopal Tripathi, head of treasury, Jana Small Finance Bank.