Forex reserves soar to $707 billion, highest so far in current fiscal

Mumbai: India’s foreign exchange reserves rose $14.1 billion to $707 billion in the week ended August 7, the highest total reserves in this fiscal year. The increase in reserves comes as inflows from the Reserve Bank’s FCNR(B) deposit scheme started to show up in the FX kitty.

Foreign currency assets in the same week rose $9.9 billion to $574.6 billion, while the valuation of gold reserves rose $3.9 billion to $108.7 billion.

Last week, reserves rose by $10 billion.

At its current levels, total reserves have declined from their peak of $728 billion earlier this year. Going ahead, the reserves are expected to increase as further inflows come into the country via the Foreign Currency Non-Resident (Bank) (FCNR-B) and ECB schemes, which are now valid until August 31.

The RBI on Friday shortened the swap facility window by a month to August 31 due to higher-than-expected foreign currency inflow. India received $56.8 billion in foreign currency inflows under the RBI’s special deposit scheme. Inflows from the FCNR(B) deposits were $52 billion.