MUMBAI: India’s foreign exchange reserves declined for a fourth straight week to $586.91 billion, the lowest in more than five months, as of Sept. 29, data from the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) showed on Friday.
That was a decrease of $3.8 billion from the previous week. Reserves had fallen by a total of $8.2 billion in the prior three weeks.
The central bank intervenes in the spot and forwards markets to prevent runaway moves in the rupee.
India’s forex reserves are “sizeable” and “very comfortable,” RBI Governor Shaktikanta Das said on Friday, while reiterating that the central bank’s intervention aims to prevent any volatility of the rupee’s exchange rate.
Apart from the central bank’s intervention, 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 had fallen 0.1% against the dollar and traded in a range of 83.0225 and 83.2450.
The rupee ended at 83.2450 on Friday, down 0.2% for the week.
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FOREIGN EXCHANGE RESERVES (in million U.S. dollars)
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Sept. 29, Sept. 22,
2023 2023
Foreign currency assets 520,236 523,363
Gold 43,731 44,307
SDRs 17,939 18,012
Reserve Tranche Position 5,002 5,019
Total 586,908 590,702
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