The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on Wednesday relaxed overseas borrowing rules for oil marketing companies (OMCs) — a move that could moderate their demand for dollars from the market and ease the pressure on the rupee.

On a day the rupee closed at a historic low of 73.34 to the dollar, the central bank said, in a notification, that OMCs can raise external commercial borrowings (ECBs) for working capital purposes from all lenders under the automatic route.

The RBI also waived the $750-million cap that individual state-run refiners had earlier and has capped the overall annual foreign currency borrowing under the new norms at $10 billion with immediate effect.

While OMCs are the largest buyers of foreign currency, current rules say that ECBs can be raised by these firms for working capital purposes if such a borrowing is done from direct and indirect equity holders or from a group company. There was another condition that the loan should be for a minimum average maturity of five years.

“It has been decided, in consultation with the Government of India, to liberalise the said provision and permit public sector OMCs to raise ECB for working capital purposes with minimum average maturity period of 3/5 years from all recognised lenders under the automatic route,” the RBI said in the notification.

On its step to remove the individual ceiling of $750 million, the RBI said that the oil marketing companies should have a forex mark-to-market procedure apart from a proper risk management policy.

Ever since the rupee has come under pressure against the dollar over the past couple of months, the buzz has been that the central bank will open a dollar swap window for oil marketing companies so as to take their dollar demand out of the market.

Under such a facility, which was done in 2013, the RBI provides dollars to these firms for equivalent rupees, which had to be returned back.