NEW DELHI: India’s foreign exchange reserves rose for a third straight week to total $609.02 billion as of July 14, the highest in nearly 15 months, data from the central bank showed on Friday.

They rose by $12.74bn from the week earlier - the biggest gain in four months - having risen by a total of $3.08bn in the prior two weeks. “A major portion of the week-on-week jump in forex reserves is driven by revaluation gains due to dollar weakness and reduction in US Treasury yields,” said Gaura Sen Gupta, India economist at IDFC FIRST Bank.

The changes in foreign currency assets, expressed in dollar terms, include the effects of appreciation or depreciation of other currencies held in the Reserve Bank of India’s (RBI) reserves.

The rest of the rise is due to the RBI’s forex purchases in the spot foreign exchange markets, Sen Gupta said, adding that the central bank will keep the rupee in a tight range this year.

Foreign investors have bought a net of $16bn in Indian equities in the last three months, data from the National Securities Depository Ltd showed.

Published in Dawn, July 22nd, 2023