India’s foreign exchange reserves rose to $544.72 billion in the week through November11, marking their biggest weekly jump in more than a year, the Reserve Bank of India’s (RBI) weekly statistical supplement showed on Friday.
The country’s reserves were at $529.99 billion by November 4. However, it is still down from around $630 billion at the beginning of this year as the RBI sold a portion of the reserves to prevent a sharp fall in the rupee this year.
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) sold $10.36 billion worth of foreign currency on a net basis in September.
The central bank said it bought $23.27 billion and sold $33.62 billion in the spot market. Data released showed sales in September were 144 percent higher compared to August
The rupee tumbled from around 79.5 per dollar to more than 81.5 in September. It plunged to a record low of 83.29 in October, with traders citing instances of RBI intervening in the markets to curb volatility over the period.
The RBI said its net forward dollar holdings was $10.42 billion as of end-September, compared with $20.16 billion as of end-August.
The central bank has sold a net of $54 billion since the beginning of the year.
In the week ended November 11, softer-than-expected U.S. inflation data helped the rupee mark its best weekly performance in about four years and strengthened it to the 80-per-dollar handle for the first time since mid-September,
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For the current week, the local currency gave back some of those gains to end down 1.1% at 81.6850 per dollar.
