MUMBAI (Reuters) – India’s foreign exchange reserves came off record highs and fell to $670.12 billion as of Aug. 9, the central bank said on Friday.
The reserves fell by $4.8 billion in the reporting week, the biggest fall in four months. They had risen by $7.5 billion in the prior week.
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) intervenes in the foreign exchange market to curb excess volatility in the rupee.
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 to which the foreign exchange data pertains, the rupee had fallen to a record low of 83.9725, and logged its worst weekly fall in more than two months.
The currency settled at 83.94 on Friday, and was flat week-on-week.
FOREIGN EXCHANGE RESERVES (in million U.S. dollars)
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Aug 09 Aug 02
2024 2024
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Foreign currency assets 587,960 592,039
Gold 59,239 60,099
SDRs 18,282 18,161
Reserve Tranche Position 4,638 4,620
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Total 670,119 674,919
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Source text: (https://www.rbi.org.in/scripts/BS_PressReleaseDisplay.aspx)
(Reporting by Siddhi Nayak; Editing by Mrigank Dhaniwala)
