Gold reserves were up by $712 million to $34.729 billion.
Nepal's decision to ban the import of non-essential items amid depleting forex reserves may hit Indian exports. The country's central bank - Nepal Rastra Bank - last week instructed commercial banks not to open letters of credit (LCs) for importing non-essential items. This is to prevent further decline of the country's foreign exchange reserves. However, it has not issued any formal communication yet.
If there was one event that made the month of August stand out, it was a strengthening of the dollar index to levels last seen only 20 years ago, as the Federal Reserve dispelled all doubts about its intention to continue raising interest rates. Predictably, most currencies suffered against the US unit, with the bulk of the losers belonging to the emerging markets pack. Amid the volatility, the rupee, however, has displayed significant resilience and fared much better than most of its peer currencies.
Indian rupee, which earlier this week touched an all-time low, is likely to remain under pressure and may test new levels as a fallout of the US Federal Reserve indicating more interest rate hikes, experts said. The aggressive rate hikes will dampen demand and increase the possibility of a recession in the US. This could accelerate the pace of capital outflows, weaken the rupee and raise the threat of imported inflation.
China, with $853.7 billion in its vaults, has just toppled Japan's long-held status as the world's largest holder of foreign exchange reserves, the state media reported.
Shaktikanta Das is a master of the finest balancing act who listens to all but takes his own decisions, discovers Tamal Bandyopadhyay.
RBI holds 557.75 tonnes of gold as part of foreign exchange reserves.
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.
China on Monday said Sri Lanka has allowed its satellite and missile tracking ship to berth at the Hambantota port on Tuesday, but declined to reveal details of talks with Colombo leading to the bankrupt island's government reversing its earlier stand to defer the high-tech vessel's entry.
During the reporting week, gold reserves increased marginally by $87 million to $26.796 billion.
Reserve Bank Governor Shaktikanta Das on Monday said despite the latest headwinds arising from the Jackson Hole summit leading to extreme volatility, our banking system and financial markets are strong enough to withstand such pressures. Taking the markets by surprise, US Fed chair Jerome Powell had told the annual Jackson Hole summit of central bankers and economists last week that he would have to keep raising federal fund rates to tame inflation, which remains the biggest challenge to the world's largest economy. He also warned of the pains that such monetary policy actions would create on growth and jobs.
During the week, gold reserves declined by $443 million to $26.910 billion.
The ex-president returned to Sri Lanka on a Singapore Airlines flight.
India's reserve position with IMF rose by $ 7 million to $ 3.636 billion.
India's foreign exchange reserves are at an all-time high.
Continuing the trend of the last two weeks, India's foreign exchange reserves, hit by revaluation of foreign currencies, dipped by a massive $1.30 billion for the week ended May 13, 2005.
The Reserve Bank on Monday warned that India's foreign exchange reserves mostly comprise borrowed funds and the country is vulnerable to sudden outflow of funds.
After declining for two consecutive weeks, the country's foreign exchange reserves jumped by $2.294 billion to $316.801 billion on the back of healthy rise in foreign currency assets last week.
Pakistan's Opposition leader Shehbaz Sharif on Sunday nominated himself for the post of prime minister, while Imran Khan's party threatened to withdraw its lawmakers from Parliament if the former Punjab chief minister was allowed to contest the election for the top post on Monday.
'We welcome (you) back to the purana Pakistan,' top Opposition leader Bilawal Bhutto Zardari said on Sunday, as he took a jibe at ousted Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan following the adoption of a no-confidence vote against him.
Rise in reserves was predominantly on account of increase in FCAs
After having declined for two consecutive weeks, India's foreign exchange reserves grew by $293 million to $282.84 billion compared to earlier week's $282.55-billion.
India's foreign exchange reserves continue to be on the upswing following fresh inflows of $700 million to cross the $88 billion mark for the week ending September 19, 2003.
For the second week in a row, India's foreign exchange reserves fell by a whopping $1.25 billion to $118.31 billion for the week ended July 30.
The rise in India's foreign exchange reserves continued with further fresh inflows and export remittances of $595 millon pushing the forex reserves past the $71 billion mark during the week ended January 10.
Subbarao said the flight of dollar being witnessed following the euro zone crisis is a 'natural reaction' when there is an uncertainty.
Foreign currency assets rose $1.569 billion to $329.58 billion
India's foreign exchange reserves declined by $4.56 billion to $282.79 billion for the week ended August 13, as against $287.35 billion the previous week due to a heavy dent in foreign currency assets.
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.
India's rupee is likely to remain under pressure due to high prices of crude oil and other commodities, and may stabilise at around 79-80 against the US dollar in the near term, say experts amid limited headroom available with the Reserve Bank to check the weakening of the domestic currency. The currency has slumped over 5 per cent this year after Russia's invasion of Ukraine sent international crude oil prices soaring to a decade high. On Monday, rupee ended at a fresh all-time low of 78.34 (provisional) against the US dollar.
'The finance ministry and the RBI will never admit to the difficulties in the economy because if they do so, it will adversely impact the financial markets, etc.' 'They like to present a rosy picture that everything is fine and under control.'
China on Tuesday said the activities of its high-tech research vessel will not affect the security of any country and should not be 'obstructed' by any 'third party', as the ship berthed at Sri Lanka's strategic southern port of Hambantota amid Indian and United States concerns.
The RBI is still a small player in international gold buying among central banks. But in terms of total gold bought in 2019, it is the sixth largest buyer with 25.2 tonnes purchases in the first 10 months of 2019.
India's current account swung to a deficit for the first time in the current fiscal, with the gap coming at $1.7 billion or 0.2 per cent of the GDP in the December quarter. In the current fiscal, as the pandemic impacted trade, the current account had been in surplus in the previous two quarters, at $15.1 billion and $19 billion, respectively, as per the data on balance of payments released by the RBI on Wednesday. The critical measure of a country's external strength now stands at a surplus of 1.7 per cent of GDP for the first nine months of the fiscal year as against a deficit of 1.2 per cent in the year-ago period. In the December quarter, there was a rise in the merchandise trade deficit to $34.5 billion from $14.8 billion in the preceding quarter, and an increase in net investment income payments.
The country's foreign exchange reserves jumped from $68.435 billion to $69.508 billion in the reporting period, according to Reserve Bank of India's weekly statistical supplement.
Foreign exchange reserve, often taken as a yardstick to gauge a country's financial strength, are the foreign currency deposits and bonds held by central banks or monetary authorities (it is Reserve Bank in case of India).
'The most important thing is that the psychological signal it is giving to the markets and international markets,' says former finance secretary Arvind Mayaram.
Despite the government's hectic efforts to avoid voting on the no-confidence motion against Khan, the joint Opposition succeeded in its month-long efforts to oust Khan from the prime minister's office as 174 members of the 342-member National Assembly voted against him in the wee hours of Sunday after a day of high drama.
Foreign currency assets, a key component rose $1.6 bn to $304.9 bn.
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