BENGALURU: India’s foreign exchange reserves rose for a second straight week and hit a record high of $681.69 billion as of Aug. 23, data from the central bank showed on Friday.

The reserves rose $7 billion in the reporting week. They had risen $4.5 billion in the prior week.

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) intervenes in the foreign exchange market to curb excess volatility in the rupee.

Changes in foreign currency assets are caused by the RBI’s intervention as well as the appreciation or depreciation of foreign assets held in the reserves.

Foreign exchange reserves also include India’s reserve tranche position in the International Monetary Fund.

India’s forex reserves rise to $674.66bn as of Aug 16

In the week ending Aug. 23, the rupee traded in a range of 83.7550 to 83.9650 and logged marginal weekly gains.

The currency settled at 83.8625 on Friday, logging its second consecutive monthly decline.

Foreign exchange reserves (in million US dollars)--------------------------------------------------                              Aug 23       Aug 16                               2024         2024--------------------------------------------------Foreign currency assets      597,552      591,569Gold                          60,997       60,104SDRs                          18,459       18,341Reserve Tranche Position       4,680        4,650--------------------------------------------------Total                        681,688      674,664--------------------------------------------------