The RBI Governor, Shaktikanta Das, defended the central bank’s intervention in the forex market to stabilise rupee last year and responded to critics stating that the job of central bank is to ensure stability in exchange rates.Das said that there was a surge of outflows last year in the wake of the Russia-Ukraine war. The RBI intervened to maintain stability of exchange rate as it gives confidence to domestic and international investors.”We had to intervene in the market because our primary focus is to maintain the stability of Indian rupee, the stability of exchange rate.””We buy an umbrella to use it when it rains. We don’t buy an umbrella to use it as a decoration piece,” Das said responding to criticism that the central bank was ‘splurging’ dollars. He said that forex cycle has turned and the reserve have now reached $599.5 billion and are fluctuating around that due to the valuation losses.He added that it is the RBI’s endeavour to have strong buffers and for that the central bank monitors the market closely to ensure there’s no excessive volatility.He also spoke about other measures like international trade settlement in rupee to make the Indian currency widely acceptable as a tool of international trade settlements.So far 18 countries have been permitted to have settlement of trade in rupee, Das said.Das was speaking at an even organised by industry body CII. He said that the war on inflation is not over and the RBI is closely monitoring the impact of El Nino. He also spoke about the last monetary policy decision to pause rate hike stating that it is important to assess the impact of the 250 basis points hike so far as it plays out with a lag.The RBI Governor said that India’s FY23 GDP growth could surpass the projected 7 percent target.