RBI opens its 3rd dollar window for state oil companies

Economy No. 61 11 October 2026 · 2 min read

The RBI would sell dollars to Indian Oil, HPCL and BPCL through designated banks, covering their entire daily dollar needs. This facility starts on October 12 and will remain open until further notice.

These 3 companies are among the biggest buyers of dollars in India. Their refineries processed 52% of the crude oil India refined between April and August 2026. India's crude import bill during those 5 months was $74.8 billion, up from $50.4 billion a year earlier. That's about $15 billion a month. India actually imported 0.4% less crude, so the higher bill came from prices. Brent averaged $90.84 a barrel in August 2026, against $68.21 a year earlier.

The RBI has done this twice before. In 2008, it bought oil bonds from these companies and gave them dollars in return, up to ₹1,000 crore a day. In August 2013, when the rupee hit ₹68.80 to a dollar, it opened a special facility to handle their dollar purchases, which then stood at $8-8.5 billion a month. The companies returned to the regular market in the last week of November 2013.

The new announcement closely resembles the 2013 one, but there's an important difference. Back then, the RBI used a forex swap: it gave the companies dollars upfront and took them back later, while the companies bought dollars from the market to complete the deal. This time, the RBI has announced an outright sale of dollars, with no second leg to reverse the transaction. The dollars sold will leave India's forex reserves, which have already fallen by $51.1 billion in 4 weeks to $734.6 billion on October 2, 2026. The rupee stood at ₹96.31 to a dollar that day, just 0.5% away from its record low of ₹96.82 on May 20, 2026.

From Monday, Indian Oil, HPCL and BPCL will get their dollars directly from the RBI instead of buying them in the market. This means fewer buyers competing for dollars, which could ease pressure on the rupee.

But India still has to pay the same oil bill. The difference is that the RBI will use its own dollar reserves to pay for it. Unlike the 2013 arrangement, the new facility does not require the companies to return those dollars to the RBI later.

Line chart of rupees per US dollar on each trading day from January 2008 to 2 October 2026, by the US Federal Reserve's H.10 rate, from ₹39 to ₹96.31. The 2 spells when the RBI supplied dollars to Indian Oil, HPCL and BPCL directly are shaded: June to July 2008 and 28 August to November 2013. The 3rd window opens on 12 October 2026.

Table of the RBI's 3 dollar windows for the state oil companies: announced 30 May 2008, 28 August 2013 and 10 October 2026; dollars against oil bonds, then dollar-rupee swaps, now an outright sale through designated banks; the rupee at ₹42.15, ₹68.80 and ₹96.31; lasting June and July 2008, 3 months in 2013, and until further notice now.

Line chart of India's monthly crude oil import bill in US$ billion from April 2024 to August 2026, from PPAC. It ran about US$ 10 to 13 billion a month until February 2026, then jumped to US$ 19.3 billion in May 2026. April to August 2026 cost US$ 74.8 billion against US$ 50.4 billion in the same months of 2025, up 48%.

Indian Oil, BPCL and HPCL refine 52% of India's crude

Crude oil processed by each refiner in April to August 2026, in million tonnes, from PPAC. The 3 companies the RBI will supply ran 52% of it; Reliance ran 25%.

MILLION TONNES OF CRUDE, APRIL TO AUGUST 2026

Indian Oil31.0 27.4%
BPCL17.4 15.4%
HPCL10.8 9.6%
Reliance28.7 25.4%
Other refiners25.1 22.2%

The 3 state companies: 59.2 of 113.0 million tonnes, 52%

Own refineries only. Other refiners are Nayara's Vadinar, Chennai Petroleum (Indian Oil's subsidiary), HPCL-Mittal, HPCL Rajasthan, MRPL, Numaligarh and ONGC. PPAC's figures are provisional.

PPAC, Crude Processing 2026-27, refinery-wise, April to August 2026 (provisional) · Apr to Aug 2026

Sources