Finance
The Reserve Bank of India’s (RBI) foreign exchange reserves increased by $1.7 billion to $573.73 billion in the week ending January 20, according to the most recent data.
The increase was due to an increase in the RBI’s foreign currency assets and gold holdings. According to the data, foreign currency assets increased by $839 million to $506.36 billion in the previous week, while gold reserves increased by $821 million to $43.71 billion.
The rupee gained 0.3% against the US dollar in the previous week. According to Bloomberg data, the US dollar index ended the week flat around 102.2.
Following a $100 billion decline in reserves from February to September 2022, the RBI has been replenishing its reserves over the last three months.
The foreign exchange reserves have increased by $28.9 billion since September to $ 561.6 billion as of January 6, 2023, covering more than nine months of imports projected for 2022-23, according to the RBI staff earlier this month. For the first time since May 2022, the central bank net purchased US dollars in November 2022.
From June to October 2022, the RBI was a net seller of US dollars in the currency market as it sought to reduce excessive volatility in the rupee’s exchange rate amid aggressive Fed rate hikes.
Source:BS
