India’s foreign exchange reserves fall to $646.67 billion

Mumbai: Foreign exchange reserves of India  fell $2 billion to $646.7 billion in the week ended May 24. The Weekly Statistical Supplement released by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) revealed this. Forex reserves had surged $4.5 billion to an all-time high of $648.7 billion in the week ended May 17.

The  forex reserves jumped $2.561 billion to $644.151 billion for the week ended May 10. In the previous reporting week, the forex reserves had increased $3.668 billion to $641.59 billion after three consecutive weeks of decline.

The forex reserves dropped $2.412 billion to $637.922 billion for the week ended April 26. The forex reserves decreased $2.282 billion to $640.334 billion during the week ended April 19. 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.

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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.

According to the weekly statistical supplement by RBI, foreign currency assets fell $1.5 billion to $567.5 billion during the week ended on May 24. Gold reserves fell $482 million to nearly $57 billion. Special drawing rights fell $33 million to $18.1 billion. Reserve position in the international monetary fund fell $1 million to $4.3 billion.