India’s foreign exchange reserves fell for the second consecutive week to a near four-month low of $593.04 billion as of September 15, per data released by the RBI on Friday.

Prior to this, the reserves were lowest as of May 26, 2023 at $589.14 billion, the Weekly Statistical Supplement data showed.

For the week ended September 15, reserves were lower by $867 million. However, the fall was narrower than the $4.99 billion fall seen in the previous week.

Forex reserves have taken a hit on accelerated intervention by the RBI in the currency market in order to manage volatility in the wake of negative global macro-economic developments. The rupee depreciated to 83.1850 per US dollar at close on September 15 compared with 82.9450 against the US currency at the end of the previous week.

Also read: US Fed Dot Plot: Why it spooked global markets 

Within reserves, foreign currency assets were down $511 million over the week to $525.92 billion, and gold reserves were down $384 million to $44 billion.

On a year-to-date basis, forex reserves remained above $578.78 billion at the end of FY23, a gain of $14.59 billion. While foreign currency assets were up $16.22 billion, gold reserves were lower by $1.20 billion for the year. Further, reserves under special drawing rights (SDRs) were lower by $300 million at $18.09 billion and reserves with the IMF (International Monetary Fund) were down $136 million to $5.03 billion as of September 15. 

During FY23, reserves fell by a total of $28.53 billion. Forex reserves touched an all-time high of $645 billion in October 2021.

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