India’s forex reserves jumped $2.3 billion to a fresh all-time high of $ 683.99 billion for the week ended August 30, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on Friday.
Earlier, reserves expanded by $7.02 billion to an all-time high of $681.69 billion for the week ending on August 23.
According to the Weekly Statistical Supplement released by the RBI, Foreign currency assets (FCAs) grew by $1.49 billion to $599 billion. Expressed in dollar terms, the FCAs include the effect of appreciation or depreciation of non-US units like the euro, pound and yen held in the foreign exchange reserves.
Gold reserves saw a surge of $862 million to $61.86 billion. Meanwhile, SDRs for the above mentioned week were up by $9 million to stand at $18.47 billion. Reserve position in the IMF dipped by $58 million to $4.62 billion.
The RBI, from time to time, intervenes in the market through liquidity management, including through the selling of dollars, with a view to preventing a steep depreciation in the rupee.
The RBI closely monitors the foreign exchange markets and intervenes only to maintain orderly market conditions by containing excessive volatility in the exchange rate, without reference to any pre-determined target level or band.