Since end-May there has been volatility in the foreign exchange market.
Email alarm made government close arbitrage window
The Enforcement Directorate on Thursday said it has frozen assets worth Rs 143 crore of prominent Kerala-based NBFC Manappuram Finance Ltd's MD and CEO V P Nandakumar after it conducted raids as part of a money laundering investigation. A total of six premises in Thrissur, where the company is headquartered, were covered during the searches that were launched on Wednesday. The case pertains to allegations of money laundering through "illegal" collection of deposits from the public, the agency said in a statement.
India's foreign exchange reserves declined for the second week in a row by $333 million for the week ended June 11.
The Union Budget is likely to adopt a three-pronged strategy to bring about the second green revolution in agriculture and evolve methods to tap the $119 billion foreign exchange reserves to boost investment.
The country's largest IT services exporter TCS on Monday reported an 11 per cent jump in the December quarter net profit to Rs 10,846 crore, led by overall growth and forex gains. The Tata group company had reported a post-tax net profit of Rs 9,769 crore in the year-ago period. Overall revenue grew 19.1 per cent to Rs 58,229 crore for the reporting quarter from Rs 48,885 crore in the year-ago period, the company said, adding in constant currency, the topline growth is 13.5 per cent, and in the dollar terms, it clipped at 8 per cent.
India's foreign exchange reserves surged $5.04 billion in the week ending March 28, its biggest weekly rise in four months, as the central bank started to buy dollars regularly in an effort to build up its defences against any potential global turmoil.
India's foreign exchange reserves surged further by $1.6 billion to cross the $106 billion mark for the week ended February 6.
With yet another record inflows of over $1 billion during the week ending December 12, 2003, India's foreign exchange reserves neared the $100 billion mark.
The rupee plunged 90 paise to close at an all-time low of 80.86 (provisional) against the US dollar on Thursday after the US Federal Reserve's interest rate hike and its hawkish stance weighed on investor sentiments. Forex traders said the US Fed's rate hike and escalation of geopolitical risk in Ukraine sapped risk appetite. Moreover, the strength of the American currency in the overseas market, a muted trend in domestic equities, risk-off mood and firm crude oil prices weighed on the rupee.
Overseas investors, as well as other key stakeholders, such as brokers, custodians, and clearing corporations, are yet to iron out critical issues, even as the shift towards a shorter trade settlement cycle approaches new phases. Several industry players said foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) are still facing impediments over the trade confirmation timelines, foreign exchange (forex) bookings, and pre-funding requirements. This could potentially act as a roadblock when it comes to moving entirely to the new T+1 settlement cycle from next year.
The rupee plunged 58 paise to close at an all-time low of 81.67 (provisional) against the US dollar on Monday as the strengthening of the American currency overseas and risk-averse sentiment among investors weighed on the local unit. Moreover, escalation of geopolitical risks due to conflict in Ukraine, a negative trend in domestic equities and significant foreign fund outflows sapped investor appetite, forex traders said. At the interbank foreign exchange market, the local currency opened at 81.47, then fell further to close at an all-time low of 81.67 against the American currency, registering a decline of 58 paise over its previous close.
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has increased its gold purchases, as part of its foreign exchange (forex) reserves. In the first half (H1) of calendar year 2021 (CY21), the addition of gold to India's forex reserves has been the highest - on a half-yearly basis -at 29 tonnes. Now, the RBI's gold holding - as a proportion of its forex reserves - has for the first time crossed 700 tonnes.
India's foreign exchange reserves surged ahead in the first week of the new fiscal following fresh accretion of over $1 billion to move past the record levels of $112 billion during the week ended April 2, 2004.
India's foreign exchange reserves touched $301.23 billion by the end of February 2008. Over $102 billion have been added to the reserves since the beginning of the financial year (April 2007) due to huge capital flows, and remittances as well as weakening of dollar. The reserves stood at $294.61 billion at the end of February 22, 2008. The forex kitty swelled by $6.62 billion, amongst the largest accretion to reserves in a span of a week.
Deutsche Bank on Monday completed the first forex option transaction in India. The transaction, which was a 6-month dollar/rupee risk reversal, was inked by Deutsche Bank for Reliance in Mumbai, an official release said.
The reserves have been surging by over $3 billion for the last two consecutive weeks. The forex reserves stood at $288.316 billion, up by $3.418 billion a week before.
The foreign currency assets increased by $1.808 billion to stand at $224.870 billion as against $223.062 billion in the previous week, the Reserve Bank data stated.
State-run Bank of Baroda and Oriental Bank of Commerce are among those facing scrutiny.
The report said the import cover has gone down to seven months, last seen in 1998 and hence, RBI will focus on recouping the reserves.
The amount involved is just 3.6 per cent of our forex reserves and the gains to be made are huge -- not to try the idea would be foolhardy.
Union Road Transport and Highways Minister Nitin Gadkari on Wednesday pitched for formulating a policy for using the Reserve Bank of India's rising foreign exchange reserves for funding road projects, saying the country needs low cost finance for such infrastructure projects. Addressing a virtual event organised by industry body CII, Gadkari further said that the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) should also have a financial arm like the power ministry's Power Finance Corporation (PFC). "We have a surplus of dollar reserves in the country. I have decided to talk with the RBI Governor, about how we can formulate a policy by which we can use this foreign exchange reserves for development of infrastructure in the country," he said.
'With the current situation in the global job market, students come back with an added burden of educational loans.'
The country's foreign exchange reserves rose by $2.04 billion to $639.52 billion in the week ended October 8, according to RBI data. In the previous week ended October 1, the reserves had dipped by $1.17 billion to $637.48 billion. The reserves had surged by $8.90 billion to a life time high of $642.45 billion in the week ended September 3.
India's foreign exchange reserves declined by $685.1 million to $274.81 billion in the week ended August 30 due to a dip in the foreign currency assets, the Reserve Bank said.
Hikes benchmark lending rate by 35 basis points to 6.25 per cent Cuts growth projection for this fiscal to 6.8 per cent from 7 per cent estimated in September Inflation to come down below 6 per cent in March quarter, to average 6.7 per cent this fiscal
Pakistan, the closest ally of China, has decided to skip the Democracy Summit that begins in Washington on Tuesday, opting instead to engage with the US bilaterally to strengthen democratic values, the foreign office in Islamabad said.
The latest macro-data from India is disquieting
India's forex reserves went up by $75 million to stand at $175.519 billion during the week ended December 15 as against $175.444 billion during the week ended December 8.
After a dream run of almost one month, India's forex reserves dipped by $ 224 million to stand at $194.410 billion during the week ended March 9 as against $194.634 billion during the week ended March 2.
Foreign exchange earnings from tourism has risen by Rs 551 crore (Rs 5.51 billion) in June as compared to the same period last year, officials said.
India's forex reserves increased by $940 million to stand at $166.482 billion during the week ended September 22 from $165.542 billion during the week ended September 15.
The government will move fast towards a more liberal forex regime in the backdrop of a record foreign exchange reserves of 68 billion dollar and fresh inflow of $500 million a week, Finance Minister Jaswant Singh said.
A statement from the finance ministry said, 'it shall be the policy of the Sri Lankan government to suspend normal debt servicing...shall apply to amounts of affected debts outstanding on April 12, 2022'.
As the Indian currency hovers around its lowest versus the US greenback, several smaller and mid-sized companies are expected to face rough weather as almost 44 per cent of the foreign loans taken by Indian companies remained unhedged. According to the data sourced from the Reserve Bank of India, Indian companies raised around $38.2 billion in the financial year ended in March. Of this, only 56 per cent of the loans are hedged while the rest of the foreign loans remain unhedged, thus risking the companies to forex volatility.
India needs foreign exchange buffer reserves to insulate itself from exchange rate volatility as we have "no friends" for swap lines and Japan was the only country that helped during the taper tantrum in 2013, former RBI Governor Raghuram Rajan said on Tuesday. Participating in a virtual event organised by economic think tank NCAER, Rajan said during the taper tantrum in 2013, India asked for swap lines, and only country who helped was Japan. "We need this (foreign exchange) reserve buffer to insulate ourselves because we have no friends.
In his address at the meeting of the foreign ministers of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation in Benaulim, Goa, Jaishankar said the channel of finances for terror activities must be blocked without any distinction even as Bhutto Zardari raised the issue of "violation of international law" which was seen as an apparent reference to Kashmir.
India's forex reserves increased by $ 2.07 billion to stand at $157.262 billion during the week-ended April 21, 2006, as against $155.196 billion during the week ended April 14, 2006.
The forex reserves stood at $144.375 billion, a rise of $1.738 billion, during the week under review, according to Reserve Bank of India's weekly statistical supplement released in Mumbai on Saturday.
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