India central bank bought $4.65bn in Sept in spot fx vs $850mn in August

MUMBAI: The Reserve Bank of India bought a net $4.65 billion in spot foreign exchange market in September compared with $850 million the previous month, according to the central bank's monthly bulletin released on Friday.

The RBI intervened more in soaking up dollars rather than in selling the greenback to prevent the rupee from rising sharply on robust forex inflows in September.

The central bank had bought a total $9.04 billion and sold $4.39 billion of spot forex when the rupee moved in the 66.3250-67.1450 range, with inflows amounting to $2.9 billion, the second-highest in a month so far this year.

After September, the flows reversed, with India like other emerging markets witnessing heavy outflows every month.

The RBI also net sold $220 million in September in currency futures market, while its forwards dollar purchases stood at $4.89 billion, it said.