By Anoop Agrawal Oct. 26 (Bloomberg) -- India’s rupee was little changed on speculation the central bank will keep interest rates on hold tomorrow to spur economic growth, while importers may step up dollar purchases to settle month-end bill payments. Demand for the U.S. currency may rise for companies such as Indian Oil Corp., the nation’s largest refiner, after the price of crude oil climbed 13 percent in October, the biggest monthly increase since May. The Reserve Bank of India will leave its overnight lending rate, or repurchase rate, unchanged at 4.75 percent, according to all 14 economists surveyed by Bloomberg. “Importers may be keen to cover some part of their overseas payments because there are no significant reasons why the rupee should make substantial gains from here,” said Sudarshan Bhatt, chief currency trader at state-owned Corporation Bank in Mumbai. The rupee traded at 46.560 per dollar as of 9:57 a.m. in Mumbai, compared with 46.520 on Oct. 23, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Oil traded at $79.72 a barrel in after-hours trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange from $70.61 at the end of last week. India, Asia’s third-largest economy, meets about 75 percent of its annual energy needs from abroad. Offshore contracts indicate bets the rupee will trade at 46.60 to the dollar in a month, compared with expectations for a rate of 46.59 on Oct. 23. Forwards are agreements in which assets are bought and sold at current prices for future delivery. Non-deliverable contracts are settled in dollars rather than the local currency.

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