RBI becomes net buyer of dollars in Sept, bought USD 5.61 billion

Mumbai: After remaining net seller of the US dollar for two consecutive months, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) turned net purchaser of the greenback after it bought USD 5.614 billion in September, RBI data showed. During the reporting month, the RBI purchased USD 6.514 billion and sold USD 900 million in the spot market, according to a recent RBI data.

In July 2019, the RBI had turned a net seller of the US dollar for first time in this fiscal, after it sold USD 93 million on a net basis. In August, it sold USD 4.072 billion on net basis in the spot market. In June 2019, RBI purchased USD 2.463 billion, as it bought USD 4.434 billion and sold USD 1.971 billion.

In May and April, the Central Bank had purchased USD 2.538 billion and USD 4.901 billion, respectively. In September 2018, it had net sold USD 31 million in the spot market. In FY19, the apex bank was a net seller of the dollar 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 FY18, RBI had 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 September were USD 7.483 billion, compared to a a sale of USD 7.848 billion in August, the data showed.