Mumbai: Foreign exchange reserves of India gained by $4.758 billion to $640.479 billion in the week ended February 21. The Weekly Statistical Supplement released by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) revealed this. In the previous reporting week, the overall reserves had dropped by $2.54 billion to $635.721 billion.
The forex reserves jumped $7.654 billion to $638.261 billion in the week ended February 7. In the previous week ended on January 31, the reserves had increased by $1.05 billion to $630.607 billion. In the previous reporting week ended January 24, the reserves increased $5.574 billion to $629.557 billion.
The forex reserves had increased to an all-time high of $704.885 billion in end-September. Foreign exchange reserves have declined by almost $80 billion since reaching an all-time high of $705 billion for the week ended September 27.
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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.
For the week ended February 21, foreign currency assets, increased by $4.251 billion to $543.843 billion. Gold reserves increased by $426 million to $74.576 billion. The Special Drawing Rights (SDRs) were up by $73 million to $17.971 billion. India’s reserve position with the IMF was up by $7 million at $4.09 billion in the reporting week.