New Delhi, Sept. 24 -- The Reserve Bank of India has carried out currency swaps worth at least $10 billion in recent weeks to reduce liquidity in the financial system, according to people familiar with the developments, as the authority seeks to curb inflation risks from surplus cash.

The central bank conducted the so-called sell-buy swaps with lenders over the past two weeks, including deals with maturities ranging from one month to about six months, the people said, asking not to be named discussing private matters.

In such transactions, the RBI sells dollars to banks in exchange for rupees, agreeing to reverse the deal at a later date. By taking rupees from banks, the swaps drain rupee liquidity from the system. Rates on dollar-rupee...