India Foreign Exchange Reserves Rise to $716.9 Billion

The Reserve Bank of India reported that the nation's foreign exchange reserves rose by $9.905 billion to reach $716.907 billion for the week ending August 14. This growth follows a previous weekly increase of $14.136 billion, signaling a recovery after reserves hit an all-time high of $728.494 billion in February.

The increase was primarily driven by a $7.225 billion rise in foreign currency assets, which reached $581.851 billion, and a $2.679 billion increase in gold reserves, totaling $111.417 billion. Meanwhile, the reserve position with the International Monetary Fund rose by $5 million to $4.899 billion, while special drawing rights saw a slight decrease of $5 million to $18.74 billion.

This upward trend follows a period of decline triggered by rupee pressure and conflict in the Middle East, which forced the central bank to intervene in the forex market through dollar sales. To counter these pressures and attract more foreign exchange flows, the Government of India launched measures including the FCN (B).