In India because banks are mandated to hold as much as 24 per cent of their liability in the form of government securities, under Statutory Liquidity Ratio (SLR) framework, they have been permitted to classify these holdings as held-to-maturity (HTM) with a view to protecting their balance sheets from volatility arising out of interest rate fluctuations.
With a dominant part of the outstanding stock thus residing in HTM portfolio and out of the market the low volume of trading is but natural. The term HTM, however, appears to be an illusion as securities are almost never held till they mature but are sold at an opportune time.