rewrite this title and make it good for SEORBI tightens oversight on offshore rupee trades with new FX reporting rules

Mumbai: In a move aimed at bringing the offshore rupee activity within its regulatory radar, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) Monday directed authorised bank dealers to report over-the-counter FX derivative contracts involving the rupee.

The reporting will cover both deliverable and non-deliverable contracts. A staggered rollout of the directions will begin from July 2027 and full compliance is required by July 2028.

The final guidelines come in the backdrop of the central bank clamping down on speculative trades on the offshore dollar/rupee market, leading to swings in the domestic market, too. Late March, the central bank had directed banks to restrict their net open positions to $100 million in an attempt to curb the volatilities in the currency.

The reporting of deals via the latest guidelines will help the central bank to have an oversight of price discovery, by widening the scope of reporting obligations to include offshore market activity.

Even as market feedback highlighted operational complexity, particularly for Indian branches of foreign lenders, the RBI said the framework already provides sufficient operational flexibility. This includes allowing offshore related entities to report independently and excludes small trades below $1 million from the mandatory disclosure.

Banks will be required to report transaction-level details of covered rupee derivative contracts to the trade repository of CCIL, including information such as notional amount, counterparty, maturity, currency pair and contract specifications. Such reporting is expected to be made preferably on the date of the transaction, or within two working days.Responding to other requests, the RBI softened its original compliance roadmap, opting for a staggered rollout beginning July 2027 rather than an earlier 12-month deadline. Reporting thresholds will rise in phases before full compliance is required by July 2028, giving banks more time to build systems and consolidate reporting across group entities.