Forex Reserves Surge Past $47 Billion Mark

Foreign exchange reserves surpassed the $47-billion mark. According to the Reserve Bank of India's (RBI) weekly statistical supplement, during the week ended December 7, forex reserves jumped by $387 million to $47.109 billion. The increase in reserves is due to foreign currency inflows, mainly through remittances from abroad, economists said.

Foreign currency assets increased by $387 million to $44.224 billion, while gold reserves and special drawing rights remained constant at $2.862 billion and $5 million, respectively.

In the financial year so far, the accretion in forex reserves was $4.828 billion, while in the calendar year so far it went up by $7.0632 billion. On a year-on-year (YoY) basis, the growth in forex reserves was $7.632 billion.

Money supply (M3) increased by 0.1 per cent (Rs 1,249 crore) to Rs 14,42,506 crore during the fortnight ended November 30.

Currency with the public fell by 2.5 per cent (Rs 5,787 crore) to Rs 2,29,349 crore, while demand deposits rose by one per cent (Rs 1,604 crore). Time deposits with banks increased by 0.5 per cent (Rs 5,256 crore) to Rs 10,43,505 crore.

The reserve money during the week ended December 7 fell by 2.4 per cent (Rs 7,681 crore) over the previous week to Rs 3,10,866 crore. Net RBI credit to the government was down by 7.2 per cent (Rs 11,784 crore) to Rs 1,51,316 crore, while the central bank's credit to the commercial sector was up by 25.5 per cent (Rs 4,423 crore) to Rs 21,753 crore.

In the financial year so far the reserve money has increased by 2.5 per cent (Rs 7,555 crore) as against a 2.2 per cent (Rs 6,294 crore) rise during the comparable period in the previous financial year.