The Hindu Business Line : Forex kitty down $2 m

Forex reserves fell by a meagre $2 million to touch $228.847 billion for the week ended August 31, according to the weekly statistics from the Reserve Bank of India.

The decrease was mainly on account of changes in value of global currencies such as the euro and thepound, said the treasury chief of a public sector bank.

In the earlier week, forex reserves had surged by $2.404 billion to $228.849.

Foreign currency assets

The foreign currency assets went up by $4 million to touch $221.509 in the week under consideration. Foreign currency assets, as expressed in dollars, include the effect of appreciation or depreciation in non-US currencies (euro, sterling and yen) held in reserves.

Gold reserves declined by $6 million to touch $6.881 billion.

SDRs and India’s reserve position remained unchanged at $2 million and $455 million respectively, said the RBI.

Dollar inflows

According to forex dealers, there could be good dollar inflows next week as the central bank would try to prevent the rupee from appreciating strongly. “There was soft intervention by the RBI this week also, and it may try to keep the rupee at 46.60 levels next week,” said a forex dealer. Gross bank credit increased by Rs 7,942 crore to touch Rs 19,38,045 crore as on August 17, according to the RBI figures.

Of this, food credit was at Rs 38,359 crore, a decline of Rs 2,964 crore. Non-food credit increased by Rs 10,906 crore to touch Rs 18,99,686 crore.