RBI net buys $996 million from spot market

The Reserve Bank of India remained net purchaser of the US currency in March after it bought USD 996 million from the spot market.

During the reporting month, the central bank purchased USD 3.328 billion dollars and sold USD 2.332 billion in the spot market, the latest RBI data showed.

In February this year, RBI had bought USD 1.665 billion of greenback on a net basis, as it bought USD 3.320 billion and sold USD 1.655 billion in the spot market.

RBI's intervention in the foreign exchange market is to curb volatility in the rupee and not to target a price band. In March, 2018, RBI had net bought USD 3.538 billion of dollars as it had bought USD 5.024 billion and sold USD 1.486 billion in the spot market.

In FY18, RBI had net purchased USD 33.689 billion from the spot market. It had bought USD 52.068 billion from the spot market, while selling USD 18,379 billion.

In FY17, RBI had bought USD 12.351 billion of dollars on a net basis.

In the forward dollar market, the outstanding net forward purchase at the end of March was USD 20.853 billion. The net forward purchase at the end of February was USD 22.668 billion, the apex bank said.