India's Forex Reserves Surge by USD 15.26 Billion

Mumbai, Mar 15 (PTI) In the sharpest jump in over two years, the country's foreign exchange reserves increased by USD 15.267 billion to USD 653.966 billion during the week ended March 7, the RBI has said.

The overall reserves had dropped by USD 1.781 billion to USD 638.698 billion in the previous week.

The reserves had been on a declining trend recently due to revaluation along with forex market interventions by RBI to help reduce volatilities in the rupee. The forex reserves had increased to an all-time high of USD 704.885 billion at end-September 2024.

The sharp rise during the week under review is being attributed to the USD 10 billion forex swap undertaken by the central bank on February 28, when it bought dollars against rupee to inject liquidity in the system.

During the week, foreign currency assets, a major component of the reserves, increased by USD 13.993 billion to USD 557.282 billion, the data released on Friday 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 by USD 1.053 billion to USD 74.325 billion during the week, the RBI said.

The Special Drawing Rights (SDRs) were up by USD 212 million to USD 18.21 billion.

India's reserve position with the IMF was down by USD 69 million at USD 4.148 billion in the week, the RBI data showed.