One-month dollar-rupee forward rate curve inverts on arbitrage bets

Many players are utilising these arbitrage opportunities, even as currency dealers say this is temporary

The one-month USD-INR forward rate is now higher than one- and two-year forward ra­tes, an anomaly bro­ught on by arbitrageurs playing between the offshore and onshore markets.
 
The one-month forward rate is at 4.9 per cent, while the one-year is at 4.6 per cent. The 2-year forward is also flat at 4.60 per cent.
 
“Short-term forward yield is higher on account of arbitrage between offshore and onshore. In other words, higher offshore points are getting transmitted onshore,” said Abhishek Goenka, managing director at IFA Global.
 
The arbitrage opportunity arises because even as the onshore market clo­ses by