New Delhi: Continuing with its declining trend, India’s foreign exchange reserves fell for the fifth straight week, losing $2.166 billion in the week ending on October 6. The $584.74 billion in its kitty is the lowest forex reserves it has had in the last five months.
Prior to the week ending on October 6, the reserves had already fallen by nearly $12 billion, according to the data released by the Reserve Bank of India.
To ward off the adverse effects caused by global developments since last year, the RBI has been deploying its kitty to defend the rupee, resulting in the depletion of forex reserves. The persistent forex market intervention by the RBI has kept volatility in the Indian unit low over the last few sessions, Reuters reported.
Expressed in dollar terms, the foreign currency assets include the effect of appreciation or depreciation of non-US units like the Euro, Pound, and Yen held in the forex reserves. They also include India’s reserve tranche position in the International Monetary Fund.
Against the dollar, the rupee traded at 83.2625 on Friday, October 12, down for a third consecutive week.