RBI net buys USD 1.665 bn of US currency in February

The Reserve Bank continued to remain a net purchaser of the US currency in February after it had bought USD 1.665 billion from the spot market.

During the month, the central bank bought USD 3.320 billion, while it sold USD 1.655 billion in the spot market, according to the latest RBI data.

In January, RBI had net purchased USD 7.364 billion, after it sold USD 589 million and purchased USD 7.953 billion from 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 February, 2017, the central bank was a net buyer of dollars after it purchased USD 2.201 billion from the spot market, while it had sold USD 1.011 billion.

In FY17, RBI had bought USD 12.351 billion of dollars on a net basis. It had bought USD 71.764 billion and sold USD 59.413 billion in the spot market in the previous fiscal.

In the forward dollar market, the outstanding net forward purchase at the end of February was USD 22.668 billion. The net forward purchase at the end of January was USD 26.051 billion, the data showed.