India’s Latest Forex Reserves: Snapping a two-week gaining streak, India’s foreign exchange reserves declined by $5.27 billion to $617.23 billion during the week ended February 9, according to the latest RBI data.

The $5.27 billion fall in the forex reserves was the steepest in a month. In the previous week ended February 2, the overall reserves had jumped $5.736 billion.

In October 2021, the country’s forex kitty had reached an all-time high of $645 billion. The reserves took a hit as the central bank deployed them to defend the rupee amid pressures caused majorly by global developments since last year.

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) intervenes in the foreign exchange market to curb excess volatility in the rupee.

Changes in foreign currency assets are caused by the RBI’s intervention as well as the appreciation or depreciation of foreign assets held in the reserves.

For the week ended February 9, the foreign currency assets, a major component of the reserves, declined to $546.524 billion.

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 foreign exchange reserves.

Gold reserves fell by $349 million to $47.739 billion during the week. Special drawing rights (SDRs) were down by nearly $60 million to $18.13 billion, the central bank said.

India’s reserve position with the IMF also dropped to $4.83 billion, compared with $4.86 billion in the previous week.

In the week that the foreign exchange data pertains, the rupee fell 0.1 per cent against the dollar and traded in a range of 82.8875 and 83.0700.

The domestic currency settled at 83.0150 on Friday, little changed for this week.