India’s forex reserves drop $8 bn to $644 bn over revaluation, RBI interventions on rupee volatility

Mumbai, Dec 27 (PTI) The country's forex reserves dropped by a further USD 8.478 billion to USD 644.391 billion for the week ended December 20, the RBI said on Friday.

In the previous reporting week, the reserves had dropped by USD 1.988 billion to a six-month low of USD 652.869 billion.

The reserves have been declining for the last few weeks, and the drop has been attributed 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 in end-September.

For the week ended December 20, foreign currency assets, a major component of the reserves, decreased by USD 6.014 billion to USD 556.562 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 2.33 billion to USD 65.726 billion during the week, the RBI said.

The Special Drawing Rights (SDRs) were down by USD 112 million to USD 17.885 billion, the apex bank said.

India's reserve position with the IMF was also down by USD 23 million to USD 4.217 billion in the reporting week, the central bank data showed.