RBI remains net purchaser of dollar in Feb; buys USD 9.14 bn

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) continued to be a net purchaser of the US dollar after it bought USD 9.144 billion in February on a net basis from the spot market, according to the latest data from the RBI.

In the reporting month, the RBI had bought USD 10.604 billion of the US currency and sold USD 1.460 billion in the spot market.

In February last year, the RBI had net purchased USD 825 million of the US dollar. It had bought USD 2.086 billion and sold USD 1.261 billion of the greenback, the data showed.

In January, the RBI had bought USD 11.486 billion of the US currency and sold USD 1.22 billion in the spot market.

In 2018-19, the apex bank was a net seller of dollars, offloading USD 15.377 billion in the spot market. It had bought USD 40.804 billion and sold USD 56.181 billion in the year to March 2019.

In 2017-18, the RBI had net purchased USD 33.689 billion from the spot market, taking its total dollar purchase to USD 52.068 billion, and sold only USD 18.379 billion.

In the forward dollar market, the outstanding sales at the end of February was USD 2.295 billion, compared to a sale of USD 1.215 billion in January, the data showed.