The rupee was last at 81.7950 to the U.S. dollar, off the day's high of 81.6750.

The USD/INR 1-year forward implied yield rose 3 basis points to 1.72%.

Two public sector banks were buying dollars, likely for the RBI, while a large private sector bank was on the bid on USD/INR for its importer clients, a currency trader said.

Public sector banks were conducting sell/buy swaps for June delivery, indicating that the RBI was sterilizing the spot intervention, traders said.

(Reporting by Nimesh Vora; Editing by Savio D'Souza)