RBI to conduct $10 billion USD/INR Buy/Sell Swap auction on January 13

Reserve Bank of India

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on December 24 said it will conduct $10 billion USD/INR Buy/Sell Swap auction for a tenure of three years, according to the release.

The auction will take place on January 13, between 10:30 AM and 11:30 AM.

The near leg or spot leg is on January 15, 2026, and the far leg is on January 16, 2026.

In this mechanism, RBI buys U.S. Dollars from banks in exchange for Rupees (first leg) and agrees to sell them back at a pre-determined future date along with a premium (reverse leg).

The central bank said market participants would be required to place their bids in terms of the premium that they are willing to pay to the Reserve Bank for the tenor of the swap, expressed in paisa terms up to two decimal places.

“The auction cut-off would be based on the premium. The auction would be a multiple-price based auction, i.e., successful bids will get accepted at their respective quoted premium,” RBI said in a release.

The RBI announced this measure on December 23 as an additional measures to inject durable liquidity to the banking system after review of current liquidity and financial conditions.

As per estimates by the experts, this auction will approximately inject Rs 90,000 crore liquidity into the banking system, which will lead to easing rates on the overnight instruments and help in better transmission of repo rate cut done by the central bank.