purchase government securities to maintain the Statutory Liquidity Ratio (for short, ‘SLR’). The guidelines dated 16th October 2000 issued by the RBI categorise the government securities Civil Appeal No.3291­3294 of 2009, etc. Page 2 of 45into the following three categories: (a) Held to Maturity (HTM); (b) Available for Sale (AFS); and (c) Held for Trading (HFT). 4. The interest on the securities is paid by the Government or the authorities issuing securities on specific fixed dates called coupon dates, say after an interval of six months. When a Bank purchases a security on a date which falls between the dates on which the interest is payable on the security, the purchaser Bank, in addition to the price of the security, has to pay an amount equivalent to the interest accrued for the period from the last interest payment till the date of purchase. This interest is termed as the interest for the broken period. When the interest becomes due after the purchase of the security by the