RBI turns net seller of US dollar in April

After remaining net buyer of the US dollars for past many months, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) became net seller in April, after it sold USD 2.483 billion of the US currency in the spot market, according to its data.

During the reporting month, the apex bank bought USD 5.536 billion of dollars from the spot market, while it sold USD 8.019 billion.

In April 2017, RBI was net buyer of the US currency as it had bought USD 1.751 billion and sold USD 1.185 billion in the spot market.

In March this year, it was net seller as it had purchased USD 3.328 billion, and sold USD 2.332 billion.

RBI has always said that its intervention in the foreign exchange market to curb volatility in the rupee and not to target a level of the domestic currency.

In FY18, the apex 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 April was USD 17.393 billion.

The net forward purchase at the end of March was USD 20.853 billion, RBI said.