Indian rupee holds at 94.70 per dollar on Oct 22, about 2.1% up from its Oct 8 low
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) reference rate was 94.70 rupees per US dollar on Oct 22, compared with 96.77 on Oct 8. On Oct 21 the RBI added cash to banks in its first overnight repo auction since Jul 29.
A data update from FactIQ, written from Reserve Bank of India figures. What is FactIQ?
Key figures
- Indian rupee reference rate against the US dollar, Oct 22
- 94.70compared with 96.77 on Oct 82026-08-122026-10-22Daily exchange rate of the Indian Rupee against the United States Dollar
- Cash lent to banks in the Reserve Bank of India's one-day repo auction, Oct 21
- ₹50,007 crorefirst such auction since Jul 29; bids received worth ₹93,241 crore2025-05-082026-10-21Total amount of bids accepted for one day variable rate repo auctions under the liquidity adjustment facility
- Weekly weighted average call money rate, week to Oct 9
- 5.23%up from 5.13%2025-11-142026-10-09Weekly Weighted Average Call and Notice Money Market Rates for Borrowings and Lendings
- Indian rupee reference rate against the euro, Oct 22
- 106.50compared with 108.38 two weeks earlier2026-08-122026-10-22Daily exchange rate of the Indian Rupee against the Euro
The rupee has gained about 2.1% since Oct 8
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) sets a daily reference rate, a benchmark price for the rupee against major currencies. The rate was 94.70 per dollar on Oct 22. That was little changed from 94.71 on Oct 21 and stronger than 96.77 on Oct 8.- Most of the gain came on Oct 12. The rate moved from 96.61 to 95.75 after the RBI opened a special window to supply dollars to oil companies and took other steps.
- The rupee kept rising on Oct 13–14 and reached about 95.03.
- The rupee also gained against other currencies over the two weeks. The euro went from 108.38 to 106.50 rupees, sterling from 127.74 to 126.93 and the yen from 0.612 to 0.603.
The RBI is now lending cash to banks, not only absorbing it
In a one-day variable rate repo auction, the RBI lends banks money overnight against securities. On Oct 21 it received 35 bids worth ₹93,241 crore and accepted 15 bids worth ₹50,007 crore. That is about 1.9 times as much demand as the amount accepted.The latest daily money-market data, for Oct 5, still showed a large surplus of cash. Banks placed ₹1.81 trn (trillion rupees) at the Standing Deposit Facility (SDF), where the RBI takes their spare cash. The RBI's bond sales, its tighter daily cash-reserve rules and its dollar sales appear to have drained enough money that it now has to add some back.
Short-term interest rates have moved up
On Oct 5, before the Oct 7 rate increase, the SDF rate was 5.00% and the Marginal Standing Facility (MSF) rate, which banks pay to borrow overnight from the RBI, was 5.50%. The overnight call rate, the rate banks charge each other, was 5.09%. The weekly weighted average call rate rose to 5.23% in the week to Oct 9, from 5.13%.September payments data were steady
Cash machine (ATM) transactions on the National Financial Switch (NFS) fell in September from August. They were 9.01 mn in Mumbai against 9.66 mn, and 6.42 mn in Bangalore against 6.87 mn. September has one fewer day, which explains part of the fall. Chargeback ratios on the Unified Payments Interface (UPI) held steady, at 0.002% for HDFC Bank and 0.001% for PhonePe.Source: Reserve Bank of India. See all RBI data in FactIQ.
About FactIQ and these updates
- What FactIQ is. FactIQ is a database of official statistics from government agencies, central banks and international organisations in the US, China, India, Europe and elsewhere. AI assistants such as Claude and ChatGPT connect to it to look up the exact figures and cite the agency that published them. It also holds what companies report in their filings and say on their earnings calls.
- How an update is made. When Reserve Bank of India publishes new figures, FactIQ loads them and an AI model writes a short summary of what changed. Before it is published, code checks that every number in the summary matches FactIQ's record of the release, and a second review checks that nothing is overstated. Values that look like errors in the source data are left out.
- Where the numbers come from. Each key figure links to the full series, with its source, units and history.