India's forex reserves increased by $1.78 billion to $573.78 billion in the week ended January 20, the Reserve Bank of India said on Friday. This is the second consecutive week of a rise in the kitty after the $10.42 billion jump to $572 billion during the preceding week. In October 2021, the country's forex kitty had reached an all-time high of $645 billion.
'In the long run, India's strong growth story and reforms to make assets globally attractive will determine the rupee's resilience.'
The gold reserves remained unchanged at $18.151 billion.
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on Friday cut the repo rate by 25 basis points to 6.25 percent, marking the first reduction in five years. The central bank also projected GDP growth for fiscal year 2026 at 6.7 percent and inflation to come down to 4.2 percent in FY26 from 4.8 percent in FY25. The RBI said the global economic backdrop remains challenging but the Indian economy continues to remain strong and resilient.
The rupee on Friday breached the psychological 47-mark after six-and-a-half months on heavy dollar outflow, but ended the day with a marginal fall of 15 paise against the American currency at 46.96/97.
The country's gold reserves remained unchanged at $19.377 billion.
The country's gold reserves remained unchanged at $19.377 billion.
Country's foreign exchange reserves dropped by $2.063 billion to $ 335.729 billion in the week to March 13.
The Institute of Economic Growth has forecast a depletion in the foreign exchange reserves to $79 billion in August mainly due to over $4 billion dollar payout of Resurgent India Bonds.
Robust trade flows and remittances by expatriates helped India's foreign exchange reserves rise for the 15th straight week to a record high, analysts said after the central bank released the latest data on Saturday.
Importers are rushing to hedge their dollar positions amid the sharp depreciation of the rupee against the American currency and expectations of further volatility even as exporters are holding off after suffering mark-to-market (MTM) losses on earlier hedges.
Foreign exchange reserves of eight Asian countries have depleted by a record $36 billion in August alone, as foreign investors pulled out money and central banks were seen using the reserves to prop up falling local currencies.
Foreign exchange reserves increased $1.133 billion to $272.281 billion during the week ended November 23, according to data released by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI).
After rising for four consecutive weeks, India's foreign exchange reserves declined by $1.657 billion to $281.294 billion in the week to November 1 on account of drop in a key component, Reserve Bank said.
Foreign exchange reserves increased $1.789 billion to $197.746 billion for the week ended March 23, 2007
Last week, the forex reserves had surged by $2.374 billion to $363.171 billion.
Foreign exchange reserves had touched a record of $363.5 billion in the week through June 3, 2016.
Foreign exchange reserves increased $1.558 billion to $143.148 billion for the week ended March 3
Propelled by foreign investment inflows, India's foreign exchange reserves grew by $26.4 billion for the nine-month period ended December 31, 2003, over a rise of $16.3 billion in the corresponding period of previous fiscal.
India's foreign exchange reserves fell by $1.2 billion during the week-ended September 23, 2005.
Expressing concerns over low returns from over $178 billion forex reserves of India, World Bank has recommended that a part of these funds should be utilised in the high-return infrastructure sector.
Foreign currency assets were down $1.516 billion to $131.426 billion. While gold reserves increased $77 million to $4.453 billion, SDRs were unchanged at $4 million.
In the biggest weekly increase in over a year, India's forex reserves swelled by $6.56 billion to reach $531.08 billion for the week ended October 28, RBI data showed on Friday. The overall reserves, which have been on a declining spree for many months now, had dropped by $3.85 billion to $524.52 billion in the previous reporting week. The $6.5 billion jump in the reporting week is the highest since September 2021.
In a bid to promote the use of domestic currency for cross-border settlements, the Reserve Bank on Wednesday announced a slew of measures, including allowing banks to lend in Indian Rupees to non-residents from Bhutan, Nepal and Sri Lanka for bilateral trade.
Accretion to India's foreign exchange reserves showed a lower growth of $6.6 billion in the first half ended September 2004, against a rise of $16.2 billion in April-September 2003.
The rupee breached 90-levels against the greenback for the first time on Wednesday, falling 6 paise to 90.02 in early trade, as banks kept buying US dollars at higher levels and FII outflows continued.
The rise in reserves was $2.12 billion.
'Calibrated depreciation will help rebalance external fundamentals, offset some of the tariff differentials with competitors, improve the competitiveness of domestic substitutes vis-a-vis Chinese imports, and contribute to the easing of financial conditions at a time when the inflation rate is unusually low,' explains Sajjid Z Chinoy, head of Asia Economics at JP Morgan.
In response to the panic triggered by Trump's trade policies, the RBI net sold approximately $43 billion in the second half of FY25 to curb volatility, as the rupee plunged to a low of 87.95 per dollar in February this year.
Surging forex reserves, now over $108 billion, have put 'considerable' pressure on the Reserve Bank of India, which finds the existing money control instruments inadequate to manage the capital inflows, according to PNB Gilts.
In the second consecutive week of an increase in the kitty, India's forex reserves have grown by $2.54 billion to $547.25 billion for the week ended November 18, the RBI said on Friday. In the previous reporting week, the overall kitty had swelled by $14.72 billion in the highest weekly rise since August 2021 to $544.71 billion. It can be noted that in October 2021, the country's forex kitty had reached an all-time high of $645 billion.
The apex bank held 586.44 tonne of gold as on September 30, of which 294.14 tonne are held overseas in safe custody with the Bank of England and the Bank for International Settlements, while the remaining gold is held domestically
Foreign exchange reserves increased $2.146 billion to $139.352 billion for the week ended January 6, according to the weekly supplement released by the Reserve Bank of India.
Pakistan on Tuesday increased its defence budget by 20 per cent, allocating PRs. 2,550 billion ($9 billion) for the fiscal year 2025-26, amid tensions with India.
Reserves provide a cushion against shocks.
The central bank may be permitted to lend to the oil companies through authorised dealers in foreign exchange at a cheaper rate of say 4.5-5 per cent. The oil companies can meet their import payment commitments in the foreign currency borrowed from RBI.
Lower international interest rates during June-July 2002-03 led to a sharp fall in returns on India's foreign currency assets to 2.8 per cent compared to 4.1 per cent during FY02 while that on gold reserves it fell to 0.6 per cent from 0.9 per cent.
China keeps most of its foreign reserves in the United States Government securities.
