MUMBAI (Reuters) – India’s foreign exchange reserves rose for a third straight week to a record high of $683.99 billion as of Aug. 30, data from the Reserve Bank of India showed on Friday.
The reserves rose by $2.3 billion in the reporting week, after having risen by a total of $11.6 billion in the prior two weeks.
The RBI intervenes in the foreign exchange market to prevent undue volatility in the Indian rupee.
Over the last month, the central bank likely bought and sold dollars, according to traders.
This led to the rupee holding a narrow range for extended periods.
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.
In the week ending Aug. 30, the rupee had logged marginal weekly gains against the dollar.
The rupee settled at 83.9475 on Friday and was down 0.1% week-on-week.
FOREIGN EXCHANGE RESERVES (in million U.S. dollars)
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Aug 30 Aug 23
2024 2024
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Foreign currency assets 599,037 597,552
Gold 61,859 60,997
SDRs 18,468 18,459
Reserve Tranche Position 4,622 4,680
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Total 683,987 681,688
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Source text: (https://www.rbi.org.in/scripts/BS_PressReleaseDisplay.aspx)
(Reporting by Siddhi Nayak; Editing by Mrigank Dhaniwala)
