India’s foreign exchange reserve fell by $819.5 million to $399.282 billion for the week to September 7 falling below the $ 400bn mark for the first time in over 12 months, according to the data released by India’s central bank, Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on Friday (14).
This is the second straight week of a significant decline in the reserves which showcase that central bank has been selling US currency to fight against depreciation of rupee which moved up 73 mark this week to close at 71.84 against the dollar on Friday (14). The total reserves fell by $1.191bn to $400.101bn in the previous week.
In the week to September 7, India’s foreign currency assets, an important component of the overall reserves, recorded a fall by $887.4m to $375.09bn.
India’s foreign currency assets expressed in dollar terms consist the effect of appreciation, depreciation currencies other than US dollar such as euro, pound, yen held in reserves.
Meanwhile, after showing a steady trend for years, India’s gold reserves rose by $71.9m to $20.234bn in the reporting week, RBI noted.
Also, the special drawing rights of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) fell by $1.5m to $1.476bn. The country's reserve place with the fund also recorded a decline by $2.5m to $2.474bn, India’s central bank added.
