The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) net purchased $254 million in the foreign exchange market in February, resuming dollar purchases after a month.
The RBI bought $4.38 billion and sold $4.13 billion in the spot market in February, data in the central bank‘s April Bulletin showed. The RBI had net sold $384 million in January.
While the RBI acquired dollars in the spot market, its outstanding net forward purchases of the dollar reduced in February, implying that the central bank took advance delivery of its forward positions, analysts said.
The net forwards books declined for the first time in three months.
The RBI’s outstanding net forward book was at $20.47 billion at the end of February, lower than $21.73 billion a month ago. The outstanding net forwards were at $65.79 billion at the end of March 2022.