RBI's net outstanding forward dollar sales ease in March from record high
This story was originally published at 21:29 IST on 30 April 2025
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NEW DELHI – The Reserve Bank of India's net outstanding sales of dollar/rupee forward contracts eased in March from a record high in February as the central bank likely trimmed some of its short positions, data from the RBI showed on Wednesday.
The size of the RBI's net short outstanding dollar/rupee forward book had only been growing since March last year. Net outstanding sales of dollar/rupee forward contracts fell to $84.35 billion at the end of March, $4.41 billion lower from a month ago.
The central bank's short froward positions came down across tenures which were to mature till one year. In the one month segment, the RBI's short positions fell $13.04 billion from its February-end net short position of $24.81 billion.
The central bank reduced positions worth $4.83 billion from its February-end short positions of $45.12 billion in forwards maturing in more than three months to one-year. The RBI's short forward positions maturing in the one-three months segment also declined $6.65 billion from its February-end net short position of $18.83 billion.
However, the RBI added positions worth $10.04 billion to its February-end short positions of $10.06 billion in forwards maturing in more than one year. The RBI conducted a buy/sell swap auction of $10 billion in March, wherein it bought dollars for immediate delivery and will sell them for delivery after three years, to infuse durable liquidity in the banking system. In February, the central bank had conducted another $10 billion buy/sell swap auction, whose first leg settlement took place on Mar. 4.
The net position of the RBI's forward book is the difference between its outstanding gross purchases and gross sales of forward contracts. At the end of March, the central bank's gross long position in its forward book was nil, trimming all of its long positions of $10.06 billion from a month ago.
| March | TOTAL | UP TO 1 MONTH | 1-3 MONTHS | 3 MONTHS-1 YEAR | MORE THAN 1 YEAR |
| Short positions | 84,345 | 11,770 | 12,185 | 40,290 | 20,100 |
| (-14,470) | (-13,038) | (-6,645) | (-4,825) | (+10,038) | |
| Long positions | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| (-10,062) | (-10,062) | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| Net (long-short) | (-84,345) | (-11,770) | (-12,185) | (-40,290) | (-20,100) |
* Net change from the previous month in parentheses. All figures are in $ million.
End
US$1 = INR 84.49
Reported by Pratiksha and Shubham Rana
Edited by Deepshikha Bhardwaj
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