RBI net sold $922 million foreign currency in October: RBI Bulletin

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) sold $922 million worth of foreign currency on a net basis in October to shore up the rupee, which is sharply lower than it did in September.

Data released by the central bank on December 20 showed net sales of foreign currency in October was $25.78 billion and net purchases was $24.86 billion.

Further RBI bulletin showed net forward dollar holdings stood at $241 million at the end of October, compared with $10.42 billion as of end-September.

The Indian rupee has moved in a thin range, which led to lower intervention by the RBI in the currency market. On December 20, the rupee ended at 82.76 against the US dollar.

RBI Governor Shaktikanta Das in the monetary policy statement said that the rupee has appreciated against all other major currencies except a few. Cross-country comparisons of exchange rate movements are often made on an inflation-adjusted basis or what is called in real effective terms.

"On a financial year basis (i.e., from April 2022 to October 2022), the INR has appreciated by 3.2 percent in real terms, even as several major currencies have depreciated. The story of the INR has been one of India’s resilience and stability," Das added.

Meanwhile, India's foreign exchange forex reserves rose by $2.91 billion to $564.07 billion for the fifth consecutive week ending on December 9, according to the Weekly Statistical Supplement released by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI).

The uptick in the foreign exchange reserves is a result of the rise in the Foreign Currency Assets (FCA), which is a major component of the overall reserves.

The comparison of the rupee to a basket of 40 currencies on a trade-weighted basis showed the rupee's real effective exchange rate fell to 103.07 in November from 103.66 in October.

A real effective exchange rate of more than 100 indicates the currency is overvalued.