India central bank bought net $14.36 billion in spot forex market in March, bulletin shows

MUMBAI: The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) bought a net of $14.36 billion in the spot foreign exchange market in March, data released on Wednesday as part of the central bank’s monthly bulletin showed.

The RBI said it purchased $41.52 billion and sold $27.16 billion. In February, the central bank had sold a net of $1.6 billion in the spot market.

The Indian rupee rallied more than 2% in March, aided by a fall in the U.S. dollar and foreign inflows, which prompted investors to unwind bearish bets.

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The domestic unit traded in a wide range of 85.39 to 87.44 in March.

The RBI’s net outstanding forward sale stood at $84.35 billion as of end-March, compared with a net sale of $88.7 billion at the end of the previous month, the data showed.

The central bank intervenes in the spot and forwards market to curb exchange rate volatility. The currency was at 85.6375 to the dollar on Wednesday.