NEW DELHI: India’s foreign exchange reserves rose by $7.196 billion to $595.976 billion in the week that ended on May 5, data released by the Reserve Bank of India showed on Friday. Prior to the week ended May 5, the reserve rose by $4.532 billion to $588.780 billion.
Coming back to RBI’s latest data, India’s foreign currency assets, the biggest component of the forex reserves, rose by $6.536 billion to $526,021 billion. Gold reserves during the latest week rose by $659 million to $46.315 billion.
In October 2021, the country’s foreign exchange reserves touched an all-time high of about $645 billion. Much of the decline can be attributed to a rise in the cost of imported goods in 2022.
Also, the forex reserves had fallen largely because of the RBI’s intervention in the market to defend the depreciating rupee against a surging US dollar. Typically, the RBI, from time to time, intervenes in the market through liquidity management, including the selling of dollars, with a view to preventing a steep depreciation in the rupee.
The RBI closely monitors foreign exchange markets and intervenes only to maintain orderly market conditions by containing excessive volatility in exchange rates, without reference to any pre-determined target level or band. (ANI)