Forex Update: India’s Foreign Exchange Reserves Jump $3.66 Billion to $641.59 Billion

After three consecutive weeks of drop, India’s forex reserves jumped $3.668 billion to $641.59 billion for the week ended May 3, according to the latest RBI data. The overall kitty dropped $2.412 billion to $637.922 billion for the previous week ended April 26.

For the week ended April 5, the reserves had hit an all-time high of USD 648.562 billion, following multiple weeks of increases after breaching the previous high of September 2021 in March this year.

Sanjeev Agrawal, president of PHD Chamber of Commerce and Industry, said, “Prudent policy reforms and strategic monetary policy measures are consistently boosting India’s Foreign Exchange Reserves. The strengthened foreign reserves, at the level of $641 billion, will boost India’s standing in the global economic ecosystem.”

He added that India’s strong forex reserves will provide greater flexibility to the Reserve Bank of India in the management of the currency, given the geopolitical headwinds and volatility in global commodity prices.

For the week ended May 3, the foreign currency assets, a major component of the reserves, increased by $4.459 billion to $564.161 billion, the data released on May 10 showed.

Expressed in dollar terms, the foreign currency assets include the effect of appreciation or depreciation of non-US units like the euro, pound and yen held in the foreign exchange reserves.

Gold reserves decreased $653 million to $54.88 billion during week ended May 3. The special drawing rights (SDRs) were up $2 million to $18.051 billion, according to the latest RBI data.

India’s reserve position with the IMF was down by $140 million to $4.499 billion in the reporting week, the data showed.

(With PTI Inputs)