Country's foreign exchange reserves declined further, falling by $1.88 billion to $623.983 billion

The country's foreign exchange reserves fell $1.88 billion to $623.983 billion in the week ended January 17, the Reserve Bank said in data released Friday. In the previous week, total reserves of forex had declined by $8.714 billion to $625.871 billion in the week ended January 10.

The reserves have been on a declining trend for the last few weeks and the reason for this decline is the step taken by the RBI to reduce the volatility in the rupee. From time to time, the central bank has intervened in the foreign exchange market to keep the rupee stable.

The foreign exchange reserves rose to a record US$ 704.885 billion at the end of September 2024. Foreign exchange assets, which are a major component of foreign exchange reserves, contracted by $ 2.878 billion to $ 533.133 billion in the week ended January 17, according to data released on Friday.

Foreign exchange assets, measured in dollar terms, include the effect of appreciation or depreciation of non-US units such as euro, pound, and yen held in the foreign exchange reserves. The RBI said that gold reserves increased by US$ 1.063 million to US$ 68.947 billion during the said week.

The apex bank said that the Special Drawing Rights (SDR) increased by $ 1 million to $ 17.782 billion. According to the data, India's reserve position with the IMF declined by US$ 74 million to US$ 4.122 billion in the week under review.