Forex Reserve

As per the data, India's foreign currency assets, the biggest component of the forex reserves, rose by $4.99 billion to $519.48 billion. During the week ending April 21, the country's foreign exchange reserves had fallen by $2.164 billion to $584.248 billion. Incidentally in October 2021, the country's forex reserves had reached an all-time high of $645 billion.

In the previous reporting week, the overall kitty had risen by $1.657 billion to $586.412 billion. Incidentally in October 2021, the country's forex reserves had reached an all-time high of $645 billion. In the period under review, the reserves fell mainly due to foreign currency assets (FCAs) shrinking by $2.146 billion to $514.489 billion.

According to balance of payment data released by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) for the third quarter of the current financial year, underlying the lower current account deficit in the third quarter of 2022-23 was a narrowing of merchandise trade deficit to $72.7 billion from $78.3 billion in the second quarter of 2022-23, coupled with robust services and private transfer receipts.

In its weekly bulletin, the SBP said that its foreign exchange reserves have decreased by $354 million to $4.2 billion as of the week ended March 24, which will provide an import cover of less than a month, Geo News reported. The net forex reserves held by commercial banks stood at $5.6 billion, $1.3 billion more than the SBP, bringing the total liquid foreign exchange reserves of the country to $9.8 billion, the statement said.

According to RBI's weekly forex data released on Friday, this was the fourth straight week when the country's foreign exchange reserves fell. The reserves fell by $330 million during the period under review. The RBI normally intervenes to prevent fluctuations in rupee's exchange rate against the dollar in the spot and forwards markets.

During the week ending on February 17, the total foreign exchange reserves of the SBP rose to around $3.26 billion, the SBP added on Thursday in a statement. Net foreign reserves held by commercial banks came at $5.47 billion, it said. Total liquid foreign reserves held by the South Asian country stood at about $8.73 billion, according to the central bank.

This is the third consecutive week that the country's reserves have risen. During the week ending January 20, the foreign exchange reserves were $573.73 billion. The central bank has been intervening to buy dollars to stabilise the rupee. Apart from this, the valuation changes have also added to the RBI's foreign exchange reserves.

Due to foreign debt payments, the central bank said its reserves fell $592 million to $3,086.2 million during the week ended January 27, the lowest since February 2014, and are barely enough to provide import cover for 18.5 days, Geo News reported. The reserves held by the commercial banks stand at $5,655.5 million, $2.6 billion higher than those of SBP, taking the total reserves of the country to $8,741.7 million, the central bank's statement mentioned.

With an annualised run rate of Rs 350 crore under this forex service to date, the company expects it to scale up by 3-4 times in the next financial year. Currently, forex transfers in India towards startup funding are riddled with several gaps, eventually taking up over 2 months in addition to a hefty late submission fee which compounds with each day of delay.

Prior to this week, the forex reserves had slipped by $571 million to $563.499 billion. Forex reserves have been falling, as they are being used to bolster the declining rupee. The country's reserve position with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) was up by $45 million to $5.159 billion in the reporting week, the data showed.