India’s forex reserves top $600b, rise to near 15-month high

Reserves up by $12.74b from last week, the biggest gain in four months, and a total of $3.08b in the prior two weeks

MUMBAI:

India’s foreign exchange reserves rose for a third straight week and stood at $609.02 billion as of July 14, the highest in nearly 15 months, the Reserve Bank of India’s (RBI) data showed on Friday.

The reserves rose by $12.74 billion from the week earlier, the biggest gain in four months. Reserves had risen by a total of $3.08 billion in the prior two weeks.

“A major portion of the week-on-week jump in forex reserves is driven by revaluation gains due to dollar weakness and reduction in U.S. Treasury yields,” said Gaura Sen Gupta, India economist at IDFC FIRST Bank.

The remaining rise is due to the RBI’s forex purchases in the spot foreign exchange markets, she said, adding that the central bank will keep the rupee in a tight range this year.

Also read Can India become the world’s third biggest economy?

The changes in foreign currency assets, expressed in dollar terms, include the effects of appreciation or depreciation of other currencies held in the RBI’s reserves.

In the week for which the forex reserves data pertains, the rupee had logged its best week in four. It had traded in a range of 81.9300 and 82.6550 during the week.

The rupee ended at 81.9450 on Friday, up 0.1% for the week.