Mumbai: India’s foreign exchange (forex) reserves touched an all-time high in the week ended on March 15. The Weekly Statistical Supplement released by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) revealed this. This is fourth week in a row that the forex reserves are surging.
India’s forex reserves advanced by $6.396 billion to 642.49 billion in the week. Before March 8 week, the reserves rose by $10.470 billion to $636.095 billion. In the week ended on March 1, the overall forex reserves had jumped by $6.55 billion to $625.626 billion.
In the week ended on February 16, the reserves touched two-month low of $616.10 billion. In the week ended February 9, forex reserves drop by $5.27 billion to reach $617.23 billion. This was the steepest fall in a month, after having risen by a total of $6.36 billion in the prior two weeks. The reserves were last lower when they stood at $615.97 billion as on December 15. In October 2021, the country’s forex kitty had reached an all-time high of $645 billion.
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Forex reserves, or foreign exchange reserves (FX reserves), are assets that are held by a nation’s central bank or monetary authority. It is generally held in reserve currencies, usually the US Dollar and, to a lesser degree, the Euro, Japanese Yen, and Pound Sterling.
The foreign exchange reserves of the country comprise of foreign currency assets (FCAs), gold reserves, special drawing rights (SDRs) and the country’s reserve position with the International Monetary Fund (IMF). FCA is the largest component of the forex reserves. It includes the effect of appreciation or depreciation of non-US currencies like the euro, pound, and yen held in the foreign exchange reserves.
During the latest week, India’s foreign currency assets (FCA) rose by $6.034 billion to $568.386 billion. Gold reserves during the week rose from $425 million to $51.140 billion. The Special Drawing Rights (SDRs) were up by $65 million to $18.276 billion. Meanwhile, India’s reserve position with the IMF was down by $129 million to $4.689 billion in the reporting week.
In the calendar year 2023, the RBI added about USD 58 billion to its foreign exchange kitty. In 2022, India’s forex kitty slumped by USD 71 billion cumulatively.
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