BENGALURU: India’s foreign exchange reserves increased for a sixth consecutive week, reaching an over 21-month high of $620.44 billion as of Dec. 22, according to data from the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) released on Friday.

The reserves rose by $4.47 billion in the reporting week, after climbing by a total of $25.65 billion in the prior five weeks.

Changes in foreign currency assets are caused by the RBI’s intervention and 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 hit over 1-1/2-year high

For the week the forex reserves data pertains, the rupee traded in the range of 82.9050 to 83.2800 against the dollar and posted its biggest weekly loss in over two months.

The currency settled at 83.2075 on Friday, shedding 0.5% of its value in 2023, its smallest annual percentage change in at least 20 years.

  FOREIGN EXCHANGE RESERVES (in million US dollars)----------------------------------------------------                              Dec 22       Dec 15                               2023         2023----------------------------------------------------Foreign currency assets       549,747      545,048Gold                          47,474       47,577SDRs                          18,327       18,323Reserve Tranche Position       4,894        5,023----------------------------------------------------Total                        620,441      615,971----------------------------------------------------