Steady Increase In Forex Hoard

The country's foreign exchange reserves grew by leaps and bounds all through 2001 except for a brief period in September.

The foreign exchange reserves as on December 21, 2001, stood at $48.012 billion, marking an increase of $7.831 billion from $40.181 billion at the beginning of the year.

Higher foreign institutional investor inflows and a virtual torrent of non-resident Indian (NRI) deposits in the wake of the September 11 crisis in the US triggered the swell in forex reserves.

The foreign institutional investor inflows in the first 11 months of 2001 was higher at $14.497 billion as compared to $11.702 billion in the full calendar year 2000.

 

Though foreign direct investment (FDI) at $2.133 billion in the January-August period, was not satisfactory, it was still higher than $1.363 billion recorded in the corresponding period of last calendar year.