India's foreign exchange reserves saw a fall of $6.052 billion to $593.477 billion as on May 19, 2023, as per Reserve Bank of India data updated on Friday. The drop in the kitty has snapped two consecutive weeks of increases.
* India's forex kitty had jumped $3.553 billion to $599.529 billion for the week ended May 12.
* Expressed in dollar terms, the foreign currency assets (FCAs) include the effect of appreciation or depreciation of non-US units like the euro, pound and yen held in the foreign exchange reserves. India's total FCA saw a dip of $4.654 billion to $524.945 billion.
* Gold reserves fell by $1.227 billion to $45.127 billion while SDRs fell by $137 million to $18.276 billion.
* India's reserve position in the IMF saw a dip of $35 million to $5.130 billion.
* The Indian rupee rose on Friday and snapped two straight weeks of losses as persistent dollar inflows into equities helped offset the impact from a broadly strong dollar. The rupee ended up 0.2% to 82.5750 versus the U.S. dollar. The currency has recovered from a near three-month low of 82.85 hit earlier in the week. The rupee ended up 0.1% for the week.
* It can be noted that in October 2021, the country's forex kitty had reached an all-time high of USD 645 billion. The reserves have been declining as the central bank deploys the kitty to defend the rupee amid pressures caused majorly by global developments..
Source : Economic Times