(Reuters) – India’s foreign exchange reserves fell by nearly $2 billion to an almost six-month low of $652.87 billion as of Dec. 13, data from the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) showed on Friday.
The reserves had declined by $3.2 billion in the week of Dec. 6, and have declined by $52 billion from the record high of $704.89 billion hit on Sept. 27.
Changes in foreign currency assets are caused by the central bank’s intervention in the forex market as well as the appreciation or depreciation of foreign assets held in the reserves.
The RBI intervenes on both sides of the forex market to curb undue volatility in the rupee.
Last week, the rupee declined to its then all-time low of 84.88, pressured by weakness in the yuan and persistently strong dollar bids in the non-deliverable forwards market. The currency fell 0.1% last week.
The domestic unit ended at 85.0150 on Friday, down for a seventh consecutive week. It hit a record low of 85.10 earlier in the day, after a hawkish turn in the Federal Reserve’s future outlook on policy rates.
The forex reserves also include India’s reserve tranche position in the International Monetary Fund.
FOREIGN EXCHANGE RESERVES (in million U.S. dollars)
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Dec 13 Dec 06
2024 2024
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Foreign currency assets 562,576 565,623
Gold 68,056 66,936
SDRs 17,997 18,031
Reserve Tranche Position 4,240 4,266
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Total 652,869 654,857
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Source text: (https://www.rbi.org.in/scripts/BS_PressReleaseDisplay.aspx)
((India Headline News Team; +91 80 6749 1310))
(Reporting by Jaspreet Kalra; Editing by Mrigank Dhaniwala)
