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RBI keen on dollar/rupee options

The Reserve Bank of India is keen to introduce options trading in the dollar-rupee exchange rate to try to provide more depth to the tightly policed currency market, a senior official said.

"We are consulting market participants so that there is no backtracking (after the introduction)," Kishori Udeshi, executive director of the Reserve Bank of India, told reporters on the sidelines of a weekend meeting of Indian foreign exchange dealers.

In a keynote address, she had earlier told the annual meeting of the Forex Association of India that the RBI was "actively considering rupee-based currency options" and a committee was expected to make recommendations on their introduction soon.

She also said currencies, other than the dollar, might become more popular in settling trade.

"The increasing integration of the economy with the global markets may bring about change in the currency composition of trade," she said.

"Recognising this possibility in the long run, the Government of India recently permitted RBI to use euro as another currency for intervention," she said.

Healthy foreign exchange reserves of $62 billion provided the RBI with a cushion to liberalise its regime, she said.

"Reserves do definitely give a degree of comfort," Udeshi told reporters.

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