INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
Mumbai: The Reserve Bank remained a net seller of dollars in November 2018, as it sold USD 644 million of greenback on a net basis in spot
market, according to latest data from Central bank.
As against this, in November 2017, central bank had purchased USD 2.570 billion from
spot market and sold USD 1.706 billion, while in reporting month, monetary authority bought USD 3.127 billion from spot market, and sold USD
3.771 billion, show data.
The rupee had a better run in past fiscal, while it was one of worst among its emerging market peers this fiscal
year, which explains reasons for RBI intervention in forex market.
In October 2018 also, RBI was a net seller of dollars, after it purchased
USD 945 million and sold USD 8.149 billion of US currency in spot market.
Normally, central bank sells dollars to contain rupee volatility
as it does not officially set a price level for rupee, which is only partly fully floating as country does not allow full capital account
convertibility.
In first five months of this fiscal year, central bank has sold a whopping USD 34 billion as rupee was on a roller-coaster,
plumbing a low of 74 to American unit.
Between April and November 2108, central bank has net sold USD 26.51 billion of dollars in spot
This compares with a net purchase of USD 18.017 billion made in same period in 2017.
The RBI has, so far, remained a net-seller of US
currency in current fiscal.
In FY18, apex bank had net purchased USD 33.689 billion from spot market, taking its total dollar purchase to
USD 52.068 billion, while selling USD 18.379 billion, this helped country for first time scale a life-time peak of USD 426.028 billion for
week to April 13, 2018 in forex reserves
But since then, forex kitty has been fluctuating and mostly sliding.
