The Hindu Business Line : Forex reserves surge $5.47 b

Mumbai, Jan 18 The country’s foreign exchange reserves surged by $5.47 billion to $281.73 billion for the week ended January 11, due to the strong intervention by the Reserve Bank of India as well as the currency revaluation effect. In the past three weeks, the reserves have gone up by $9 billion.

Foreign currency assets increased by $5.47 billion to $272.96 billion during the week under consideration.

“The central bank was constantly buying dollars in the forex market to stem the rupee appreciation. There were heavy dollar inflows in the market last week which could have been IPO related or due to NRI remittances,” said the treasury head at a private bank.

FII inflows

The FII inflows into the equity market as per SEBI data stood at $180 million for the week ended January 11.

Forex traders said that there could have also been some currency revaluation effect as the dollar lost ground against other major currencies during the week under consideration. The Japanese yen appreciated from 109.33 yen to 107.10 during the week in question.

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.

The gold reserves and SDRs remained unchanged at $8.328 billion and $3 million, respectively. The country’s reserve position in IMF rose by $1 million to $434 million.