India's forex reserves surge to $584 billion

India’s foreign exchange reserves increased by $1.701 billion to $584.107 billion in the week ended April 23 2021 to retain the country’s position as the world’s fourth largest forex holder despite the devastating onslaught of a second wave of Covid-19, data from the Reserve Bank of India showed.

The rise in reserves was on account of an increase in foreign currency assets (FCAs), a major component of the overall reserves, the RBI data revealed.

In the previous week ended April 16, 2021, the reserves had risen by $1.193 billion to $582.406 billion. The reserves had touched a lifetime high of $590.185 billion in the week ended January 29, 2021, when the third largest Asian economy surpassed Russia to emerge as the world’s fourth-largest foreign-exchange reserve holder.

China has the world’s largest reserves, followed by Japan and Switzerland on the International Monetary Fund table.

Forex reserves for both India and Russia have mostly flattened out this year after months of rapid increase. India pulled ahead as Russian holdings declined at a faster rate in recent weeks as the RBI continued to hoard dollars to cushion the economy against any sudden outflows.

In the reporting week ended April 23, 2021, the rise in reserves was on account of an increase in foreign currency assets (FCAs), a major component of the overall reserves.

— issacjohn@khaleejtimes.com