As oil prices rise, RBI opens special window for PSU oil firms to meet their daily dollar need

With crude oil prices rising and public sector oil marketing companies needing more dollars to procure supplies, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on Saturday (October 10, 2026) announced to open a special window for them to meet their entire daily dollar requirement. This is to prevent them from buying dollar from the spot market which in turn lead to depreciation of the Rupee. 

“On the basis of assessment of current market conditions, Reserve Bank of India has decided to open a special window to meet the entire daily dollar requirements of three public sector oil marketing companies (OMCs), viz. Indian Oil Corporation Limited, Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Limited and Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited,” the RBI said in a notification. 

“Under the facility, the Reserve Bank will undertake sale of USD to the public sector OMCs through designated bank/s,” it said. 

The facility will come in effect from Monday (October 12, 2026) and will remain in place until further notice, the central bank added.

As per estimates these three oil marketing companies require about $300 million every day to import crude oil. 

The RBI has sufficient Dollar reserves as it recently mobilised over $127 billion through FCNRB and additional $9 billion via OFCB and ECB. 

RBI has forex reserves of about $735 billion.