Without naming India, S&P said it expects that in regions where inflation already exceeds targets, or which are vulnerable to capital flight, central banks will be forced to raise interest rates.
India's forex exchange reserves increased by $289 million to $640.401 billion for the week ended November 19, the Reserve Bank said on Friday. The overall reserves had declined by $763 million to $640.11 billion in the previous reporting week. They had touched a life time high of $642.45 billion in the week ended September 3, 2021.
Gold reserves were down by $1.441 billion in the reporting week to $35.999 billion.
The government on Monday ruled out making public the RBI report detailing the reasons why the central bank could not keep inflation within the targeted 6 per cent upper limit for the three consecutive quarters. "Yes sir, RBI has furnished a report to the central government, as mandated under Section 45ZN of the RBI Act, 1934 and Regulation 7 of RBI Monetary Policy Committee and Monetary Policy process Regulations, 2016," minister of state for finance Pankaj Chaudhary said in a written reply. The said provisions of the RBI Act, 1934, and regulations therein does not provide for making the report public, he said.
India's reserve position with IMF rose by $ 7 million to $ 3.636 billion.
China will not be allowed to use the southern port of Hambantota for military purposes, Sri Lankan President Ranil Wickremesinghe has said, apparently attempting to allay fears in India and the United States about China's increasing maritime presence in the strategic Indo-Pacific region.
The country's foreign exchange reserves crossed the $600 billion mark for the first time after increasing by $6.842 billion in the week ended June 4, RBI data showed on Friday. The reserves surged to a record $605.008 billion in the reporting week, helped by a rise in foreign currency assets (FCA), a major component of the overall reserves, as per weekly data by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI). In the previous week ended May 28, 2021, the reserves had swelled by $5.271 billion to $598.165 billion.
For the week under review, foreign currency assets, which are the biggest parts of the reserves, increased by $1.642 billion to $410.453 billion.
Cash-strapped Sri Lanka has decided to temporarily shut its embassies in Norway and Iraq, as well as the country's consulate general in Sydney, the ministry of foreign affairs said on Tuesday.
India's external debt rose by 8.2 per cent year-on-year to $620.7 billion as of March 2022, which according to the finance ministry is sustainable. While 53.2 per cent of it was denominated in the US dollar, Indian rupee-denominated debt, estimated at 31.2 per cent, was the second largest, as per the status report on India's external debt released by the ministry. "India's external debt continues to be sustainable and prudently managed. As of end-March 2022, it stood at $620.7 billion, growing by 8.2 per cent over the level a year ago.
Amid the debate over the release of Bilkis Bano case convicts, the Madhya Pradesh government's proposed new policy provides for a life sentence till death for those held guilty for offences like gangrape and terrorist acts.
A Sri Lankan parliamentarian of the ruling party of the Rajapaksas and his personal security officer were killed on Monday in clashes between anti- and pro-government protesters in the country.
Gold reserves were down by $331 million to $37.264 billion.
Billionaire Mukesh Ambani's Reliance Industries on Saturday said it will raise as much as $5 billion in foreign currency-denominated bonds and use the proceeds to retire existing borrowings. In a stock exchange filing, the company said the Finance Committee of the company board at its meeting on Saturday approved a "proposal for issuance of senior unsecured US Dollar-denominated fixed-rate notes from time to time, for an aggregate amount up to $5 billion, in one or more tranches".
A rise in import duty could be a reason for increase in illegal consignments, say experts.
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.
Gold reserves were up by $712 million to $34.729 billion.
After selling dollars for the past few months, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) may take a hands-off approach before its annual account closing by not trying to prop up the rupee as geopolitical tensions show signs of stabilising with global crude oil prices easing from its $140 peak. The central bank was a net buyer of dollars between April and September, and then turned a net seller in the following months, the data released by the RBI showed. The RBI continued to be a net buyer of $36.6 billion in this fiscal year - between April and January. In 2020-21, it purchased $68 billion on a net basis.
The ongoing headwinds like war-triggered inflation, rate tightening by RBI and weak rupee will lead to a Rs 60,000 crore increase in 'risky debt' in FY23, a ratings agency warned on Monday. Defining 'risky debt' as borrowings by companies having a net leverage or debt to operating profit ratio of more than five times, India Ratings said the ongoing troubles will take the stock of such loans to Rs 6.9 lakh crore by end of FY23, as against the Rs 6.3 lakh crore it would have been but for the Russian invasion of Ukraine. An analysis of 1,385 corporate entities led the domestic ratings agency to trim revenue growth projection for entities in a post-war scenario and also forecast narrowing of the profit margins due to higher commodity prices, an increase in interest rates of up to 1 per cent and the rupee depreciating by a tenth.
Fitch Ratings has upgraded Reliance Industries Ltd's (RIL) rating to 'BBB', one notch above India's sovereign rating, as the company benefits from cash flow generation across diversified business segments and continuation of deleveraging. In a statement, Fitch said it has upgraded RIL's long-term foreign-currency issuer default rating (IDR) to 'BBB', from 'BBB-', with a negative outlook. At the same time, the agency has affirmed RIL's long-term local-currency IDR at 'BBB+' with a stable outlook.
The Union government will soon make amendments to the foreign trade policy (FTP) to enable exporters to claim export benefits for settling trade in rupees. These benefits are, so far, available for export payments received in foreign currencies. After the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) unveiled a mechanism to settle international trade transactions in the local currency on Monday, exporters have been demanding that the Ministry of Commerce and Industry come up with a clarification on the matter.
The Reserve Bank on Monday asked banks to put in place additional arrangements for export and import transactions in Indian rupees in view of increasing interest of the global trading community in the domestic currency. Before putting in place this mechanism, banks will require prior approval from the Foreign Exchange Department of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), the central bank said in a circular. "In order to promote growth of global trade with emphasis on exports from India and to support the increasing interest of global trading community in INR, it has been decided to put in place an additional arrangement for invoicing, payment, and settlement of exports / imports in INR," it said.
The decision was taken during a crucial all-party leaders meeting held earlier in the day.
A video is being shared on social media showing the protesters counting the currency notes that were unearthed. The recovered money was said to be handed over to the security units, the Daily Mirror newspaper reported.
Thousands of irate anti-government protesters in Sri Lanka on Saturday stormed into embattled President Rajapaksa's official residence in central Colombo's high-security Fort area after breaking the barricades, as they demanded his resignation over the island nation's worst economic crisis in recent memory.
A group of protesters on Saturday entered the private residence of Sri Lankan Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe and set it on fire, hours after he offered to resign to make way for an all-party government amid unprecedented protests in the country for the resignation of the government led by President Gotabaya Rajapaksa.
A protest has begun in front of the Trincomalee Naval Base after reports Mahinda Rajapaksa and some of his family members are there after leaving Temple Trees, the official residence of prime minister.
Rajapaksa's decision was to ensure public security and maintain essential services so as to ensure a smooth functioning of the country, the presidential media division said.
The ED had launched raids on Friday at multiple locations linked to Prasad's family members including that of his son and Bihar Deputy Chief Minister Tejashwi Yadav in Delhi.
Foreign currency assets, which are a major component of the overall reserves, rose by $646.4 million to $386.762 billion.
India's exports in April jumped nearly three-fold to USD 30.63 billion from USD 10.36 billion in the same month last year, according to government data released on Friday.
On May 9, violence erupted in Sri Lanka after supporters of the 76-year-old former premier attacked peaceful anti-government protesters demanding his ouster over the country's worst economic crisis that led to acute shortages of staple food, fuel and power.
A spokesman of the Sri Lanka Air Force (SLAF) said a video released by Ajith Dharmapala, a former police officer, claimed that President Rajapaksa was staying at the house belonging to Pathirana.
The country's reserve position with the International Monetary Fund also increased by $ 3.6 million to $ 3.344 billion.
A pregnant Sri Lankan woman, who had been in a queue for two days to obtain a passport to leave the crisis-hit country for employment overseas, went into labour while waiting for her turn on Thursday and delivered a baby girl.
The foreign exchange kitty had crossed the half-a-trillion mark for the first time in the week ended June 5, 2020, after it had swelled by $8.223 billion to stand at $501.703 billion.
Amid a big push for the Aatmanirbhar Bharat scheme of Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led government, the Indian Air Force is planning to acquire 114 fighter jets of which 96 would be built in India, and rest 18 would be imported from the foreign vendor chosen for the project.
Gold reserves in the reporting week increased by $707 million to $33.52 billion.
Gold reserves were up by $1.525 billion in the reporting week to $37.625 billion.
The five-time prime minister was re-appointed to the job on May 12 following the political circus precipitated by the unprecedented economic crisis in the island's history.