USD vs INR: In a bid to support the Indian National Rupee (INR) against the US Dollar (USD), the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has opened a special facility for the three state-run Oil Manufacturing Companies (OMCs). The facility will take effect on Monday, 12th October 2026. In this facility, the three oil PSUs — Indian Oil Corporation Ltd, Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Ltd, and Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd — will be able to meet the entire daily dollar requirement for oil purchases. The RBI made this announcement on Saturday, 10 October 2026.
The RBI made this announcement on Saturday, saying, "On the basis of an assessment of current market conditions, the 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. Under the facility, the Reserve Bank will undertake the sale of USD to the public sector OMCs through designated bank/s. The facility will take effect on October 12, 2026 (Monday) and remain in place until further notice.
As mentioned above, the dollar window will be available for just three state-run OMCs — IOCL, HPCL, and BPCL.
On how these three OMCs will be able to contain the Indian Rupee's fall amid soaring crude oil prices, Sandeep Pandey, Co-founder of Basav Capital, said, “If you look at the percentage share of these three oil PSUs in the net petroleum products sale in India, they constitute around 90%. IOCL covers the maximum 40% shares, followed by the 30% share of BPCL and 20% share of HPCL. So, the petroleum product's sales data is enough to understand the share they have in the oil imports.”
On how this RBI's move will lend support to the weak Indian Rupee, Sandeep Pandey said, “In the current market system, oil companies need to buy the USD from the open market by converting the Indian Rupee into the USD, then they pay for the oil imports from the international markets. However, under the current system, OMCs will now buy USD from designated Indian banks rather than in the open market.”