India’s forex reserves snap 2-week fall

MUMBAI: India’s foreign exchange reserves halted a two-week losing streak and rose to $598.90 billion as of Sep. 1, the Reserve Bank of India’s (RBI) data showed on Friday.

That was an increase of $4.04 billion from the previous week, the biggest gain in nearly two months. Reserves had fallen by a total of $7.3 billion in the prior two weeks.

The central bank intervenes in the spot and forwards markets to prevent runaway moves in the rupee.

The changes in foreign currency assets, expressed in dollar terms, include the effects of appreciation or depreciation of other currencies held in the RBI’s reserves.

Foreign exchange reserves include India’s Reserve Tranche position in the International Monetary Fund.

For the week the forex reserves data pertains, the rupee fell marginally against the dollar and traded in a range of 82.5225 to 82.8075.

The rupee ended at 82.9450 on Friday, down 0.4% this week.

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    FOREIGN EXCHANGE RESERVES (in million U.S. dollars)
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                              Sept. 1       Aug. 25
                               2023         2023
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Foreign currency assets      530,691      527,249
Gold                          44,939       44,354
SDRs                          18,195       18,194
Reserve Tranche Position       5,073        5,061
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Total                        598,897      594,858
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