The Hindu Business Line : Forex reserves surge by over $1 billion

THE country's foreign exchange reserves surged by over $1 billion for the week ended December 16, on the back of an increase in foreign currency assets.

According to the Reserve Bank of India's Weekly Statistical Supplement, foreign exchange reserves increased by $1.057 billion to touch $145 billion, up from the previous week's $143.943 billion.

The reserves have gone up by an aggregate $2.823 billion in three consecutive weeks.

The increase in foreign currency assets during the week by $1.042 billion to $138.816 billion was the main reason for the rise in reserves.

Foreign currency assets expressed in dollar terms include the effect of appreciation or depreciation of non-US currencies such as euro, sterling and yen. The treasury head at a private bank said that the accretion in the forex reserves was mainly due to robust foreign institutional investor (FII) inflows during that particular week. "The FII inflows, coupled with a rise in currencies like the euro, contributed to the rise in the reserves," said the official.

The net FII inflows into the domestic equity market for the week under review were $1.116 billion, according to figures from SEBI.

The euro had touched a high of $1.2016 during the week under review.

For the week under review, gold and Special Drawing Rights remained unchanged at $4.925 billion and $5 million respectively. However, the country's reserve position in IMF increased by $14 million to $1.254 billion.