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Informist, Thursday, Jan. 1, 2026

 

NEW DELHI - The Reserve Bank of India's net outstanding sales of dollar/rupee forward contracts rose for the third consecutive month in November. The central bank's net outstanding short forward positions rose to a seven-month high of $66.05 billion at the end of November, up $2.44 billion on month, data from the central bank showed. 

 

The continued rise in the central bank's outstanding forward dollar sales reflects the RBI's increased defence of the rupee through active dollar sales in the offshore non-deliverable forwards and spot market. Short positions in the forward book are likely to rise in December and January as well with the RBI conducting buy-sell swaps auctions--buying dollars for immediate delivery and selling them for a forward date--to provide durable rupee liquidity to the banking system. 

 

On Dec. 16, the RBI set a cut-off premium of 765.00 paise at the auction of its three-year $5 billion dollar-rupee buy-sell swap, where it accepted 118 bids worth $5.07 billion. The central bank will hold a $10 billion, three-year dollar-rupee buy-sell swap auction on Jan. 13. 

 

Of the total forward book, short positions with maturity of up to one month rose to $18.87 billion at the end of November from $17.06 billion from a month ago. For the tenure of one-three months, the outstanding short positions fell to $16.84 billion at November-end, down $2.92 billion from a month ago.

 

The outstanding short positions increased $1.65 billion in the tenure of three months to a year to $2.26 billion at the end of November. The net position of the RBI's forward book is the difference between its outstanding gross purchases and gross sales of forward contracts.

 

The RBI's short positions in long-term forwards with maturity over one year was $28.08 billion as of November-end, up $1.90 billion on month. The central bank did not have any gross long positions in its forwards book at the end of November. The rupee fell 0.8% against the dollar in November.

 

Details of the RBI's outstanding forward book as on Nov. 30 are as follows. All figures in million dollars:

 

November	Total	Up To 1 Month	1-3 Months	3 Months-1 Year	More Than 1 Year
Short positions	66,045	18,870	16,840	2,260	28,075
Net change from Oct-end	2,440	1,810	(-)2,920	1,650	1,900
Long positions	0	0	0	0	0
Net change from Oct-end	0	0	0	0	0
Net (long-short)	(-)66,045	(-)18,870	(-)16,840	(-)2,260	(-)28,075

 

End

 

US$1 = INR 89.98

 

Reported by Shubham Rana

Edited by Vandana Hingorani

 

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