Foreign Fund Flows Lift India’s Forex Reserves

Revaluation impact of US dollar weakness along with inflow of foreign funds lifted India's foreign exchange (Forex) reserves by $959.1 million as on January 19, 2018.

"The up-tick in reserves during the previous week can be due to revaluation impact from US dollar weakness," Anindya Banerjee, Deputy Vice President for Currency and Interest Rates with Kotak Securities, told IANS.

According to the Reserve Bank of India's (RBI) weekly statistical supplement released on January 26, 2018, showed that the overall Forex reserves rose to $414.78 billion from $413.82 billion reported for the week ended January 12.

India's Forex reserves comprise foreign currency assets (FCAs), gold reserves, special drawing rights (SDRs) and the RBI's position with the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

Segment-wise, FCAs -- the largest component of the Forex reserves -- increased by $934.6 million to $390.76 billion during the week under review. Besides the US dollar, FCAs consist of nearly 20-30 per cent of major global currencies. It also includes investments in US Treasury bonds, bonds of other selected governments and deposits with foreign central and commercial banks.

The country's gold reserves value remained stagnant at $20.42 billion.However, SDRs inched up by $10.4 million to $1.53 billion. Similarly, the country's reserve position with the IMF rose by $14.1 million to $2.06 billion.

IANS