Indian rupee strengthens to 94.2713 after RBI secures $136 billion
The Indian rupee just got a solid boost, hitting 94.2713 per US dollar, its strongest in over a month.
This jump happened after the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) garnered about $136 billion through special foreign exchange schemes to help steady the rupee as oil prices kept climbing.
Overseas program $127B, inflows beat $80B
Most of that money, $127 billion, came from a special program aimed at overseas citizens, with two other programs adding another $9.15 billion.
These inflows easily beat the RBI's $80 billion estimate set by RBI Governor Sanjay Malhotra, helping protect the rupee from dropping further.
Rupee 2nd-best in Asia this month
The rupee is now Asia's second-best performing currency this past month, and experts think it could get even stronger if these moves continue.
As MUFG Bank senior currency analyst Michael Wan put it, these inflows give the RBI "far larger ammunition" to keep things stable.