Mumbai, April 1 -- With the rupee under pressure from capital outflows and higher crude prices, India's central bank is expanding its scrutiny beyond banks to corporate treasury positions in the foreign exchange market to assess large arbitrage trades, two bankers familiar with the matter said.

According to these bankers, the Reserve Bank of India's (RBI's) data call is aimed at assessing the extent of arbitrage exposure with corporate clients, rather than signalling immediate regulatory action.

The exercise follows the central bank's move on 27 March to cap banks' net open positions in the domestic market at $100 million at the end of each day, which forced several lenders to unwind trades.

"Corporates might have to unwind as well if ...