India’s foreign exchange reserves decline for second week in a row

Mumbai: India’s foreign exchange reserves declined for second week in a row. The forex reserves decreased $2.282 billion to $640.334 billion during the week ended April 19. The Weekly Statistical Supplement released by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) revealed this.

The reserves had dropped $5.401 billion to $643.162 billion in the previous reporting week. The forex reserves surged for seventh week in a row previously. In week ended on April 5, forex reserves touched an all-time high of $648.562 billion.

India’s foreign exchange reserves  increased $2.98 billion to $648.562 billion for the week ended April 5. In the previous reporting week, the forex kitty had increased by $2.951 billion to $645.583 billion, which was an all-time high. The forex kitty had increased $140 million to $642.631 billion in the week ended on March 22.The country’s forex kitty had in October  2021 reached an all-time high of $642.453 billion.

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.

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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.

For the week ended April 19, the foreign currency assets decreased  $3.793 billion to $560.86 billion. Gold reserves continued to rise and increased $1.01 billion to $56.808 billion during the week. The Special Drawing Rights (SDRs) were down $43 million to $18.034 billion. India’s reserve position with the IMF was also down $2 million to $4.631 billion in the reporting week.