The Reserve Bank of India’s dollar short forward positions rose $9.2 billion to $77.6 billion in February– up 13.5% on month, according to data released by the central bank on Tuesday. The rise in short positions can be attributed to the regulator’s forex swap, along with FX interventions to defend the rupee, according to market participants. “The increase is mainly due to RBI’s $ 10 billion swap conducted to infuse liquidity. The net increase is slightly less than $ 10 billion and the more-than-year bucket rose only $ 8.8 billion, implying that some maturities were allowed,” said Guara Sengupta, chief economist at IDFC First Bank, adding that some intervention in the offshore market also contributed to the rise in the short forward positions.