According to Reserve Bank of India (RBI) figures released on Friday, India’s foreign exchange reserves increased for a third week in a row and reached $609.02 billion as of July 14—the highest level in nearly 15 months.
Details on with over $600 billion, India’s foreign exchange reserves are almost at a 15-month high
The largest increase in four months, the reserves increased by $12.74 billion over the previous week. Over the previous two weeks, reserves have increased by a total of $3.08 billion.
According to Gaura Sen Gupta, India economist at IDFC FIRST Bank, “a significant portion of the week-on-week increase in forex reserves is driven by revaluation gains due to dollar weakness and reduction in U.S. Treasury yields.”
She said that the central bank would keep the rupee in a narrow range this year and that the RBI’s forex purchases on the spot foreign exchange markets were responsible for the remaining increase.
The impacts of the appreciation or depreciation of other currencies held in the reserves of the RBI are reflected in the changes in foreign currency assets, represented in dollar terms.
The rupee had its best week in four in the week covered by the FX reserves data. Throughout the week, it had fluctuated between a range of 81.9300 and 82.6550.
On Friday, the rupee reached 81.9450, up 0.1% for the week.
