India’s forex reserves rise to $674.66bn as of Aug 16

MUMBAI: India’s foreign exchange reserves rose by $4.5 billion and stood at $674.66 billion as of Aug. 16, but were just shy of record highs, data from the Reserve Bank of India showed on Friday.

The forex reserves had fallen by $4.8 billion in the previous week, the biggest decline in four months. The reserves had reached a record high of $674.92 billion in the week to Aug. 2.

Changes in foreign currency assets are caused by the RBI’s intervention as well as 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 foreign exchange reserves come off record highs

In the week ending Aug. 16, the rupee was flat on a week-on-week basis.

The RBI has routinely intervened via state-run banks to help the rupee hold above the 84-handle, a psychologically important support level for the currency, traders said.

The rupee settled at 83.89 on Friday and strengthened marginally week-on-week.

Foreign exchange reserves (in million US dollars)

————————————————–

                              Aug 16       Aug 09

                               2024         2024

————————————————–

Foreign currency assets      591,569      587,960

Gold                          60,104       59,239

SDRs                          18,341       18,282

Reserve Tranche Position       4,650        4,638

————————————————–

Total                        674,664      670,119

————————————————–