Indian Foreign Exchange Reserves Hit Record High of $322 billion! Globally #9!

[Chanakya's_Chant]

Forex reserves at record high of $322 billion

Market players said RBI has been buying dollars to ensure that the rupee stays strong. The Indian currency closed at 61.44 to a dollar on Friday.​

NEW DELHI: India's foreign exchange reserves touched a record $322 billion, surpassing the previous high of almost $321 billion in September 2011 on the back of Reserve Bank of India's conscious efforts to build a war chest.

Latest data released on Friday showed an accretion of $2.7 billion during the week ended January 16, essentially due to a rise in foreign currency assets. Market players said RBI has been buying dollars to ensure that the rupee stays strong. The Indian currency closed at 61.44 to a dollar on Friday.

At current levels, reserves are sufficient to cover imports for eight-and-a-half months.

Globally, India has the ninth highest forex reserves with China, Japan and Saudi Arabia leading the chart. But the gap is huge given that China's reserves are in excess of $3.8 trillion -- almost 12 times India's level. Unlike the large foreign exchange holders, India has a significant current account deficit, which is mainly due to imports of gold, crude petroleum and electronics.

RBI has managed to increase the reserves by over $30 billion or 10% over the past 12 months when China added roughly $23 billion. During this period, Brazil's stock of forex has declined by 0.4% to $374 billion, while Russia's dropped 28% to $339 billion, Bloomberg data showed.

Overseas funds bought a record $42 billion of Indian stocks and bonds in 2014 and have invested $3.1 billion so far this year. There are expectations of higher inflows after the European Central Bank announced a $1.2 trillion stimulus on Thursday, especially when the other emerging market economies are on a weaker wicket compared to India.

The government and RBI had swung into action after reserves hit a three-year low in September 2013 and the Indian currency hit a record low and breached the 68 level against the dollar due to widening trade deficit. The central bank had put in place checks on outflows and initiated steps to boost inflows.

Source:- Forex reserves at record high of $322 billion - The Times of India

 

[sree45]

With India expecting to have a current account surplus this year. This number will only go high.

 

[Chanakya's_Chant]

With India expecting to have a current account surplus this year. This number will only go high.

India will post a current account surplus of 0.3 percent of gross domestic product (GDP) in FY2015, following an estimated 1.6 percent deficit in FY2014.

 

[gslv]

All hail the low oil price.

 

[Echo_419]

All hail the low oil price.

Low oil prices ZINDABAD

 

[madooxno9]

Low Oil price + Low demand and price of Gold has done its magic

 

[anant_s]

I think we must also be thankful to vision and disciplined approach followed by RBI and its governor Raghuram Rajan must get his due share. With a growth oriented government at helm and business environment improving, we should see an account surplus soon. & i hope NDA government will not blow this opportunity just like the way UPA did back in 2006-7 by mindless spending on populist schemes. Fiscal consolidation should remain a focus area.
Happy days are perhaps round the corner for economy too.

 

[Echo_419]

I think we must also be thankful to vision and disciplined approach followed by RBI and its governor Raghuram Rajan must get his due share. With a growth oriented government at helm and business environment improving, we should see an account surplus soon. & i hope NDA government will not blow this opportunity just like the way UPA did back in 2006-7 by mindless spending on populist schemes. Fiscal consolidation should remain a focus area.
Happy days are perhaps round the corner for economy too.

Hope they spend massively on Infra we need a lot of that

 

[ashok mourya]

Top 10 Countries with forex reserve are;-

1 People's Republic of China 3,945,932
2 Japan 1,260,548
3 Saudi Arabia 740,400
4 Switzerland 526,172
5 Republic of China (Taiwan) 426,438
6 Russia 379,400
7 Brazil 375,426
8 Republic of Korea 363,095
- Hong Kong 327,930
9 India 322,149
10 Singapore 260,553
By the way Russia still standing tall.

 

[SrNair]

Hope they spend massively on Infra we need a lot of that

I think we must also be thankful to vision and disciplined approach followed by RBI and its governor Raghuram Rajan must get his due share. With a growth oriented government at helm and business environment improving, we should see an account surplus soon. & i hope NDA government will not blow this opportunity just like the way UPA did back in 2006-7 by mindless spending on populist schemes. Fiscal consolidation should remain a focus area.
Happy days are perhaps round the corner for economy too.

We should have a balanced approach.I said this because we have a good example from our northern neighbour PRC that is totally sucked up by blind spending on infras.And we should also follow some populist movement like Food security bill with stringent audit and spending.


But I salute the great man in that RBI Governor post.He did a great job .Not succumbed to industrial and GoI pressure but made his own decision.

 

[Echo_419]

We should have a balanced approach.I said this because we have a good example from our northern neighbour PRC that is totally sucked up by blind spending on infras.And we should also follow some populist movement like Food security bill with stringent audit and spending.


But I salute the great man in that RBI Governor post.He did a great job .Not succumbed to industrial and GoI pressure but made his own decision.

Yeah but we do need a lot of Infra only South & parts of West India & NCR has good Infra the rest of the country needs massive infra spending

 

[anilindia]

Low demand of gold plus low oil prise...zindabad

 

[anant_s]

We should have a balanced approach.I said this because we have a good example from our northern neighbour PRC that is totally sucked up by blind spending on infras.And we should also follow some populist movement like Food security bill with stringent audit and spending.


But I salute the great man in that RBI Governor post.He did a great job .Not succumbed to industrial and GoI pressure but made his own decision.

Yeah but we do need a lot of Infra only South & parts of West India & NCR has good Infra the rest of the country needs massive infra spending

We can start with transport and Power sector, which needs massive investment. Nobody would understand this better than BJP when ex PM Vajpayee sahab initiated huge national highway building program that has really changed the landscape of country and given great impetus to manufacturing industry. This effort came to a grinding halt when two successive UPA governments didn't make much progress and also brought controversial land acquisition bills that has made it very difficult for a company to maintain its schedule and hence cost overruns.
Power sector has also suffered owing to land bill and prior to that coal scandal. with SC verdict and recent auctions of coal mines, power sector should see a ray of hope.
Railways is one area where if govt pushes DFC program seriously, manufacturing is going to get immensely benefited.
Till now government has shown all the right intent and i'm sure we will see the fruits of this in 3-4 years time.

 

[ashok mourya]

Only expend on infra whats most required, unfruitful infrastructure and defense purchase are not required now.River linking and industrial corridors with high speed railways (not bullet train) need of the hour.Need to make in India semiconductor,chips,mobiles other electronics that we mostly import from china and Korea.Linking North east with railways and roads through Bangladesh is also strategically important.

 

[Ind4Ever]

I think we must also be thankful to vision and disciplined approach followed by RBI and its governor Raghuram Rajan must get his due share. With a growth oriented government at helm and business environment improving, we should see an account surplus soon. & i hope NDA government will not blow this opportunity just like the way UPA did back in 2006-7 by mindless spending on populist schemes. Fiscal consolidation should remain a focus area.
Happy days are perhaps round the corner for economy too.

If may I ask what it actually mean ?
Wh as the is surplus ?
How it will help our trade and economy?
Do common man benefits ? 300+ bil dollars can be used on infra and defence ?