Forex reserves increases by $16.6 billion to $633.5 billion

India’s Foreign Exchange Reserves (Forex) increased by $16.66 billion to touch a lifetime high of $633.55 billion in the week ended August 27, primarily due to rise in the Special Drawing Rights (SDR) holdings, data from RBI showed. The International Monetary Fund (IMF) made an allocation of SDR 12.57 billion, which is an equivalent of around $17.86 to India on August 23,2021, RBI said. In the reporting week that ended on August 27, the SDR holdings of the country had risen by $17.866 billion to $19.407 billion, according to weekly data from RBI on Friday.

IMF makes the general SDR allocations to members in proportion to their existing quotas in the fund. SDR holdings form a part of a country’s Foreign Exchange Reserves.

Gold reserves up by $ 192 million

During the reported week, the data showed that Foreign Currency Assets (FCAs), a major component of the overall reserves, declined by $1.409 billion to $ 571.6 billion. FCAs are expressed in terms of dollars and include the effect of appreciation or depreciation of non-US units like the pound, yen and euro held in the Foreign Exchange Reserves.

The country’s gold reserves increased by $192 million to $37.44 billion. India’s reserve position with the IMF rose by $14 million to $5.11 billion in the reported week, the data showed.

Forex reserves declined by $2.47 billion in the previous reporting week

In the week ended August 20, India’s foreign exchange reserves declined by $2.47 billion to reach $616.895 billion

During the reported week, the decrease in the reserves was due to a drop in the Foreign Currency Assets (FCAs) which declined by $3.365 billion to $573.009 billion, as per weekly data by the RBI.

While, the gold reserves were up by $913 million to $37.249 billion in the reporting week, the data showed.