India's forex reserves hit over 21-month high; jump $4.47 billion to $620.4 billion: RBI

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Also Read: India's April-November fiscal deficit at ₹9.06 lakh crore, exceeds 50% of full year budget estimates In October 2021, the forex kitty had reached an all-time high of $645 billion. At over $620 billion, the reserves are just $25 billion off the peak. The reserves took a hit as the central bank deployed the kitty to defend the rupee amid pressures caused majorly by global developments since last year.

This takes the year-to-date addition of forex reserves to $57.634 billion, according to central bank data. For the week ended December 22, the foreign currency assets, which are the single largest component of the reserves, increased by $4.898 billion to $549.747 billion, according to RBI. In the year so far, the monetary authority has added %51.257 billion to the foreign currency assets.

Expressed in dollar terms, the foreign currency assets include the effect of appreciation or depreciation of non-US units like the euro, pound, and yen held in the foreign exchange reserves. However, gold reserves declined by $107 million to $47.474 billion during the reporting week while the special drawing rights (SDRs) were almost flat, adding just $4 million to $18.327 billion, said the central bank. The country's reserve position with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) also declined by $129 million to $4.894 billion in the reporting week, the data showed.