India is the third most indebted country among major emerging markets, behind Argentina and Brazil.
Reserves for both countries have mostly flattened out this year
The country's foreign exchange reserves declined by USD 4.255 billion to USD 580.299 billion in the week ended March 5, according to RBI data
In the previous week ended January 22, the reserves rose by $1.09 billion to $585.33 billion
Others on the list include China, Japan, Korea, Germany, Italy, Singapore and Malaysia
The country's reserve position with the IMF also increased by $40 million to $4.676 billion
Gold reserves were down by $580 million in the reporting week to $37.440 billion
Large flows pose a challenge to managing rupee appreciation
In the reporting week, the forex kitty rose mainly on the back of a jump in foreign currency assets (FCAs), a major component of the overall reserves
The central bank's core earnings or interest income from its rupee and forex assets were up just 2.3% year-on-year in FY20 despite 30% rise in its assets during the year
Central bank's balance sheet saw a larger-than-normal size due to policy actions and liquidity infusion measures adopted to mitigate shock of Covid-19 outbreak
On June 30, 2019 (FY19), the size of the bank's balance sheet was Rs 410.29 trillion
The valuation gain, reflecting increase in gold prices, amounted to $5.4 billion during 2019-20 as against a loss of $8.3 billion during 2018-19
Currency dealers say there were dollar inflows on account of Reliance Jio and Airtel deals, which the central bank absorbed
Central bank does huge OMO silently to control domestic bond yields
The gold reserve also declined by $340 million to $30.55 billion in the reporting week, the RBI data showed
Large inflows can increase policy challenges
The forex reserves had increased by a higher $4.24 billion to a new high of $437.83 billion in the previous reporting week
According to the latest weekly data, the reserves surged by massive USD 5.022 billion to USD 433.594 billion for the week to September 27
The overall reserves had declined by $649 million to $428.960 billion in the previous reporting week