FOREX RESERVES

June 11, 2020

India’s foreign exchange reserves are rising and are slated to hit the $500 billion mark soon. In the month of May, forex reserves jumped by $12.4 billion to an all-time high of $493.48 billion (around Rs 37.30 lakh crore) for the week ended May 29.

About:

  • Meaning: Foreign-exchange reserves (also called forex reserves or FX reserves) are reserve assets held by a central bank in foreign currencies, used to back liabilities on their own issued currency as well as to influence monetary policy.

  • Components: India’s foreign exchange reserves comprise
    • Foreign currency assets (FCAs). These are maintained in currencies like US dollar, euro, pound sterling, Australian dollar and Japanese yen.

    • Gold

    • SDR (special drawing rights) in IMF: This is the reserve CURRENCY with IMF

    • RTP (reserve tranche position) in IMF: This is the reserve CAPITAL with IMF



  • Reserves are denominated and expressed in the US dollar, which is the international numeraire for the purpose.

  • India’s FOREX is governed by RBI under RBI act,1934. The level of foreign exchange reserves is largely the outcome of the RBI’s intervention in the foreign exchange market.

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