BENGALURU: India’s foreign exchange reserves dropped for a second straight week and stood at a two-month low of $616.10 billion as of Feb. 16, data from the central bank showed on Friday.
The reserves fell by $1.13 billion in the reporting week, after having fallen by $5.3 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 come off one-month high
In the week that the foreign exchange data pertains, the rupee largely remained unchanged against the dollar and traded in a thin range of 82.9725 and 83.1150.
The domestic currency settled at 82.9375 on Friday, up 0.1%for the week.
FOREIGN EXCHANGE RESERVES (in million U.S. dollars)
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Feb 16 Feb 09
2024 2024
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Foreign currency assets 545,783 546,524
Gold 47,376 47,739
SDRs 18,107 18,135
Reserve Tranche Position 4,831 4,832
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Total 616,097 617,230
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