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India's Forex Reserves at an All Time High

Brahma Bull

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India’s foreign exchange reserves increased by $4.26 billion to $339.99 billion for the week ended March 20, Reserve Bank of India (RBI) data showed.

According to analysts, the Indian reserves are being build-up by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to absorb any future global financial shock that was witnessed in June 2013. “The RBI is building up the reserves to counter any future financial shocks like the one which was witnessed at the time of the tapering announcements were made. Apart from that the reserves will also act as a support to the Indian rupee,” Anindya Banerjee, senior manager, currency derivatives, Kotak Securities told IANS.

The RBI is cautious about the US Fed’s stand that the rate hike might take place in the later part of the year.

With higher interest rates in the US, the foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) are expected to be led away from the emerging markets such as India.

The US Fed dropped an assurance to be “patient” in raising interest rates and signalled the hike could come by mid to late this year.

“Just because we removed the word patient from our statement doesn’t mean we will be impatient,” Janet Yellen, US Federal Reserve Board chairman said at a press conference after a globally—awaited meeting of the policy committee on March 18.

For the previous week ended March 13, the reserves had decreased by $2.06 billion to $335.72 billion. For the week ended March 6, the reserves had fallen by $286.3 million to $337.79 billion.

The fell in reserves for the previous week (March 13) was attributed to rally in the US dollar and that major non—dollar currencies were trading at their weekly lows. The Indian reserves hold nearly 20—25 percent of the non—dollar currencies.

According to the RBI’s weekly statistical supplement, foreign currency assets, the biggest component of the forex reserves grew by $4.53 billion at $314.88 billion in the week under review.

The foreign currency assets had declined by $1.97 billion at $310.34 billion in the week ended March 13. under review. However, for the week ended March 6, the foreign currency assets had risen by $122.4 million at $312.32 billion.

The RBI said the foreign currency assets, expressed in US dollar terms, include the effect of appreciation or depreciation of non—US currencies such as the pound sterling, euro and yen held in reserve.

India’s reserve position with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) in the week ended March 20 decreased by $295.8 million and stood at $1.28 billion.

The value of special drawing rights (SDRs) was higher by $18.2 million in the week under review at $3.97 billion.

Gold reserves were static at $19.83 billion. The gold reserves had plunged by $346.2 million in the week ended March 6.

Keywords: foreign portfolio investors, Forex reserves, Reserve Bank Of India, India foreign exchange

India's forex reserves up by $4.26 bn - The Hindu
 
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we need better service not bank balance. If we have 1,00,000/-Rs. and wear and live like the misery that s not useful, we need something more from this money, some luxury for people is required now.
 
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In 5 years, we should target to accumulate 450-500 billions in our foreign reserve.

We should not keep all our forex in USD.

As much as it is tempting, a currency without backing is naturally bound to go in a state of shock in some time if not now. Therefore keeping liquidity in other critical currencies like Euros and Renmibi would make sense. Rouble is anyway not really sustaining itself and since China is our largest trading partner, we could move towards considering a Rupee-Renmibi trade agreement.

Imagine, $100 billion worth of trade done in Rupee-Renmibi.

Also, India is on the verge of signing currency swapping agreements with rest of the BRICS countries. At 30% expected annual growth rate of the trade among the BRICS, this can really give us that cushion to absorb shocks of currency fluctuations vis a vis the US dollar.
 
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There was a time when Indian FOREX reserves were so low that it could not support even a few weeks of imports.

We have come such a long way since those days! The future looks brighter and brighter every passing year!
Yep! We've come a long way, baby! With India’s foreign exchange reserves at a measly $1.2 billion in January 1991 and depleted by half by June, touching an all time low of $500 million barely enough to last for roughly 3 weeks of essential imports, India was only weeks way from defaulting on its external balance of payment obligations.

And now at $340 billion, we're sitting pretty, but still a long way to go before we start playing catchup with countries like China. However, with Modi at the helm, we've pressed the ignition button for a spectacular lift-off! :tup:
 
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I am so pleased to learn that. I hope our forex reserve will only grow.
 
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If I remember better, India is 7 or 8 th in the forgin exchange reserve table with China, Russia and Saudi leading the table. The gap between 1st and 2 nd number is huge. India with a population of 1.2 bil I expect it be be second in the chart with at least 1 tri FCR.
 
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We should not keep all our forex in USD.

As much as it is tempting, a currency without backing is naturally bound to go in a state of shock in some time if not now. Therefore keeping liquidity in other critical currencies like Euros and Renmibi would make sense. Rouble is anyway not really sustaining itself and since China is our largest trading partner, we could move towards considering a Rupee-Renmibi trade agreement.

Imagine, $100 billion worth of trade done in Rupee-Renmibi.

Also, India is on the verge of signing currency swapping agreements with rest of the BRICS countries. At 30% expected annual growth rate of the trade among the BRICS, this can really give us that cushion to absorb shocks of currency fluctuations vis a vis the US dollar.


Smartest way to go will be to exchange / swap currencies with major trading partners. This will also help us limit our exposure to just one currency.
 
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Smartest way to go will be to exchange / swap currencies with major trading partners. This will also help us limit our exposure to just one currency.

True.

The thing is, European Union and China are our largest trading partners alongside USA.

A currency swap options within BRICS while maintaining credible USD and Euro forex reserves should do the trick.

Thanks to China, BRICS combined is $18 trillion worth. As intra-group trade expands with Russia importing from Brazil and India while exporting to China and India, we will see a lot of things change.

One regret is South Africa's limited participation. We should encourage them to seriously participate in the group's financial deal. In BRICS, no one is bigger or smaller. All are members. For heaven's sake, they are representing an entire continent.
 
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