The Reserve Bank of India sold an estimated $8 billion to $15 billion in the currency market during the week ended 4 September 2026, bankers told Reuters, helping push the rupee to its strongest level in more than two months.
How Big Was Last Week’s Intervention
Six bankers cited by Reuters estimated the RBI’s dollar sales in the week ended 4 September 2026 at between $8 billion and $15 billion. At around ₹94.4 to the dollar, that is roughly ₹75,500 crore to ₹1.42 lakh crore.
One banker familiar with the central bank’s operations put the figure near $15 billion. A banker at a state-run lender estimated about $10 billion to $11 billion, which is more than three times the amount believed to have been sold the week before.
Intervention means the central bank stepping into the currency market itself. When the RBI sells dollars, it adds dollar supply to the market and takes rupees out, which eases the downward pressure on the rupee.
These are market estimates, not official figures. The RBI does not announce its intervention daily. Confirmed numbers appear later in the central bank’s monthly bulletin, so the actual amount for last week will be known only with a lag.
The Key Numbers at a Glance
| What | Figure | Period / as on |
|---|---|---|
| Estimated RBI dollar sales | $8 bn to $15 bn (about ₹75,500 crore to ₹1.42 lakh crore) | Week ended 4 September 2026 |
| Rupee’s strongest level | 94.2850 per US dollar | 3 September 2026 |
| Rupee’s weakest level this year | 96.96 per US dollar | May 2026 |
| Foreign exchange reserves | $740.803 billion, a record | Week ended 28 August 2026 |
| Inflows via RBI’s policy measures | More than $136 billion | Till 31 August 2026 |
Where the Extra Dollars Are Coming From
The RBI has been able to sell so heavily because a large pool of foreign currency has flowed in through its own policy measures. These have brought in more than $136 billion, or roughly ₹12.8 lakh crore.
Two schemes did most of the work. The RBI offered a discounted hedging facility for overseas borrowings by state-run companies and banks, and a free-of-cost hedging facility for banks raising foreign currency deposits from abroad.
Hedging is simply insurance against a currency moving the wrong way. By making that insurance cheaper or free, the RBI made it far more attractive for Indian banks and companies to raise money abroad and bring those dollars home.
India’s foreign exchange reserves hit a record $740.803 billion in the week ended 28 August 2026, up $11.475 billion in a single week, according to RBI data released on 4 September. JP Morgan has estimated that reserves have since crossed $750 billion.
What This Did to the Rupee
The rupee strengthened to 94.2850 against the US dollar on 3 September 2026, its best level in more than two months. Business Standard reported a close of 94.49 that day, the strongest closing level since 25 June.
That is a meaningful recovery from May 2026, when the rupee had slipped to 96.96, its weakest point of the year.
On Monday, 7 September 2026, the rupee opened around 94.39 and stayed close to those two-month highs in early trade.
The Liquidity Side Effect
Every dollar the RBI sells pulls rupees out of the banking system. That matters right now because surplus cash in the system has risen sharply.
When banks are flush with cash, the rate at which they lend to each other overnight can slip below the RBI’s policy repo rate. That weakens monetary policy transmission, which is the process by which an RBI rate decision actually reaches borrowers and depositors.
So the dollar sales are doing two jobs at once. They support the rupee, and they quietly drain some of that excess rupee liquidity.
What Analysts Expect From Here
Goldman Sachs expects the rupee to stay within a fairly narrow band over the medium term. Its view is that a stronger external position is unlikely to turn into a long stretch of appreciation.
JP Morgan said in a note on Friday that the larger near-term firepower explains the RBI’s more aggressive intervention, which appears aimed at pushing the rupee higher and drawing exporters back into the market, according to Reuters.
Hedging behaviour still leans towards the dollar. Importers have been buying dollars forward to protect against a fall in the rupee, while exporters have held back dollar sales hoping for better rates.
Economists cited by Reuters estimate that the RBI’s forward foreign exchange liabilities may have crossed $200 billion. The central bank could use fresh inflows to bring that number down.
Crude oil remains the main risk. Brent was trading near $97 a barrel on 7 September 2026 amid West Asia tensions, and India imports most of the crude it consumes, so a sustained rise in oil prices adds fresh pressure on the rupee.
Why This Matters for Indian Investors
A firmer rupee usually lowers the cost of imported crude, which helps oil marketing companies and eases some pressure on inflation. It works the other way for exporters such as IT and pharma companies, which earn a large part of their revenue in dollars.
Currency moves also influence foreign portfolio flows into Indian equities, which in turn feed into the Nifty 50 and the Sensex.
To hold and transact in Indian shares, an investor needs a demat account and a trading account. A trading platform with live index and currency data makes it easier to follow how these moves play out during market hours, from 9:15 AM to 3:30 PM IST.
Investments in securities markets are subject to market risks. This article is for information only and is not investment advice.
