What happened
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on 5 November 2026 released provisional data on daily merchant and inter-bank foreign exchange transactions for 26 to 30 October 2026. All figures are in US$ million.
The release came alongside the weekly data sets for 28 September to 23 October 2026, so the October series is now published in full.
The data is split into a merchant segment, which covers deals between banks and their customers, and an inter-bank segment, where banks deal with each other. Each is broken down by currency pair (foreign currency against the rupee, written FCY/INR, and one foreign currency against another, FCY/FCY) and by deal type: spot, forward, swap and cancellation of forwards.
Key figures for the week
A spot deal settles almost immediately, while a forward deal fixes a rate today for settlement on a later date. A swap combines a purchase and a sale of a currency for two different dates.
- Merchant FCY/INR spot purchases ranged from $5,758 million on 30 October to $7,324 million on 27 October.
- Merchant FCY/INR forward purchases were $3,777 million on 28 October, the highest of the week, against $930 million on 27 October.
- Merchant cancellations of forwards in FCY/INR purchases reached $9,313 million on 28 October, compared with $1,337 million on 26 October.
- Inter-bank FCY/INR spot purchases ranged from $16,861 million on 26 October to $24,287 million on 28 October.
- Inter-bank FCY/INR swap purchases ranged from $26,360 million on 28 October to $30,734 million on 27 October.
Sales figures are also part of the release, but only the purchase side is reproduced here.
What it means for you
This is a record of market activity, not a rate announcement. It does not by itself say whether the rupee strengthened or weakened. If you send money abroad or receive it in India, your rate depends on the day’s market and your provider, and you can check indicative conversions with the Currency Converter.
Background
The RBI publishes this turnover data regularly. The figures are provisional, so they can be revised. The RBI notes that daily inter-bank turnover is based on data reported by both sets of counterparties. For other recent central bank coverage, see RBI’s August 2026 data on ECB, FCCB and rupee bonds.
