The World Opinion

Tag: Foreign Exchange Reserves

  • India’s Forex Kitty Surges To New Lifetime High Of $655.8 Billion | Economy News

    New Delhi: India’s foreign exchange reserves surged by $4.3 billion during the week ended June 7 to scale a lifetime high of $655.8 billion, according to the latest data released by the RBI on Friday. The country’s forex kitty has broken the earlier record of $651.5 billion, as of May 31, that was announced by RBI Governor Shaktikanta Das on June 7, and has been rising steadily in recent weeks.

    The surge in foreign exchange reserves also came on a day when Commerce Ministry data show that India’s exports of goods shot up over 9 per cent in May. “India’s external sector remains resilient and overall, we remain confident of meeting our external financing requirements comfortably,” Das said at a press conference after the monetary policy meeting last week. (Also Read: Advance Tax First Instalment Payment: Find Out Who Has To Pay, Consequences Of Missing Payment)

    India, with an expected 15.2 per cent share in world remittances in 2024, also continues to be the largest recipient of remittances globally. Overall, the current account deficit for 2024-25 is expected to remain well within its sustainable level, he added. (Also Read: EPF Withdrawal Update: EPFO Discontinues Covid-19 Advance Facility – Check Details)

    An increase in the foreign exchange reserves reflects strong fundamentals of the economy and gives the RBI more headroom to stabilise the rupee when it turns volatile. A strong forex kitty enables the RBI to intervene in the spot and forward currency markets by releasing more dollars to prevent the rupee from going into a free fall. Conversely, a declining forex kitty leaves the RBI less space to intervene in the market to prop up the rupee.

  • India’s Forex Reserves Decline USD 2 Billion And Come Off Record Highs | Markets News

    New Delhi: India’s foreign exchange reserves declined a little over USD 2 billion in the week that ended on May 24, to come off from its all-time high it experienced a week prior. The reserves are now at USD 646.673 billion.

    In the previous week, the reserves rose for the third straight week, by USD 4.549 billion to USD 648.700 billion, according to data shared by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI). In the process, they touched a fresh lifetime high.

    Preceding those three weeks, the forex kitty had seen three consecutive weeks of decline. According to the latest data released by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), India’s foreign currency assets (FCA), the biggest component of the forex reserves, declined by USD 1.510 billion to USD 567.499 billion.

    Gold reserves during the week declined by USD 482 million to USD 56.713 billion. India’s foreign exchange reserves are now sufficient to cover around 11 months of projected imports, according to a RBI report. (Also Read: FPIs Offloaded Over Rs 25,000 Cr Indian Stocks In May, Turning Net Sellers Second Month)

    In the calendar year 2023, the RBI added about USD 58 billion to its foreign exchange kitty. In 2022, India’s forex kitty slumped by USD 71 billion cumulatively. Foreign exchange reserves have risen about USD 28 billion, on a cumulative basis, in 2024 so far.

    Forex reserves, or foreign exchange reserves (FX reserves), are assets that are held by a nation’s central bank or monetary authority. It is generally held in reserve currencies, usually the US Dollar and, to a lesser degree, the Euro, Japanese Yen, and Pound Sterling.

    The country’s foreign exchange reserves last touched their all-time high in October 2021. Much of the decline after that can be attributed to a rise in the cost of imported goods in 2022. Also, the relative fall in forex reserves could be linked to the RBI’s intervention, from time to time, in the market to defend the uneven depreciation in the rupee against a surging US dollar. (Also Read: RBI Aims To Expand UPI To 20 Countries By 2028-29: RBI’s Annual Report)

    Typically, the RBI, from time to time, intervenes in the market through liquidity management, including through the sale of dollars, to prevent a steep depreciation in the rupee. The RBI closely monitors the foreign exchange markets and intervenes only to maintain orderly market conditions by containing excessive volatility in the exchange rate, without reference to any pre-determined target level or band.