RBI sells $14.9b during January-May to check excess volatility in rupee
The RBI’s foreign exchange intervention during January-May 2026 amounted to a net sale of $14.9 billion to check excess volatility of the rupee, Parliament was informed on Monday.
The value of the Indian Rupee (INR) is market-determined, with no target or specific level or band, Minister of State for Finance Pankaj Chaudhary said in a written reply in the Lok Sabha.
“The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) regularly monitors the foreign exchange market and intervenes in situations of excess volatility. As per the latest data available from the RBI, the RBI’s foreign exchange intervention during January-May 2026 amounted to a net sale of $14.9 billion,” he said.
Movements in the Foreign Exchange Reserves (FER) occur on account of multiple factors, including purchase and sale of foreign exchange by the RBI, income arising out of the deployment of the FER, external aid receipts of the central government and changes on account of revaluation of the assets, he said.
The RBI has undertaken several measures to boost forex inflows, including a concessional swap facility for Foreign Currency Non-Resident (Bank) or FCNR(B) deposits, External Commercial Borrowings (ECB), and Overseas Foreign Currency Borrowings (OFCB), which were announced on June 5, 2026.
Replying to another question, Chaudhary said recovery in written-off loans is an ongoing process, and banks continue pursuing their recovery actions initiated against borrowers under the various recovery mechanism available to them.
The amount recovered from written-off loans during a particular financial year may pertain to the loans written off during that particular year or previous financial years, he said.
As per inputs received from Public Sector Banks (PSBs), the outstanding amount owed by wilful defaulters of Rs 25 lakh and above as on 30.6.2026 is Rs 2,85,015 crore against 15,930 wilful defaulters, he said.
Out of the total number of wilful defaulters, 7,190 cases have been referred for criminal actions having a default of Rs 1,92,187 crore, he said.
As on June 30, 2026, 147 projects have been funded by SWAMIH Fund in which 67,626 housing units have been handed over to the homebuyers benefitting about 2,70,000 people, Chaudhary said in a separate reply.
In another reply, Chaudhary said the number of defaults in gold loans has declined during the last five years.
The Gross Non-Performing Asset (GNPA) ratio for gold loans of banks has declined from 0.19 per cent as on March 31, 2023 to 0.12 per cent as on March 31, 2026, he said.
Similarly, the GNPA ratio for gold loans of NBFCs has declined from 2.32 per cent to 0.81 per cent during the same period, he said.
Responding to another question, Chaudhary said Kisan Credit Card (KCC) is a demand-driven scheme, under which timely and affordable credit is provided through the banking system to all eligible farmers engaged in agriculture and allied activities to meet their working capital and investment credit requirements.
The credit limit to all eligible farmers under KCC is determined according to the scale of finance, area under cultivation, cropping pattern, and related requirements, he said.
As reported by RBI and NABARD, he said, the total number of Operative KCC accounts as on March 31, 2026 was 7.28 crore and the amount outstanding in these accounts was Rs 10.08 lakh crore.
