India's forex reserves dropped by USD 1.988 billion to USD 652.869 billion for the week ended December 13, the RBI said on Friday. In the previous reporting week, the overall reserves had dropped by USD 3.235 billion to USD 654.857 billion. The reserves have been declining for the last few weeks, and the drop has been attributed to revaluation, along with forex market interventions by the RBI to help reduce volatilities in the rupee. The forex reserves had increased to an all-time high of USD 704.885 billion in September. For the week ended December 13, foreign currency assets, a major component of the reserves, decreased by USD 3.047 billion to USD 562.576 billion, the data released on Friday showed. Expressed in US 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. Gold reserves increased by USD 1.121 billion to USD 68.056 billion during the week, the RBI
The cause for concern for the RBI in this regard is that it has no control over the NDF market, whereas, the onshore market is under direct supervision of the regulator
Any changes to market timings have to be in sync with clearing and settlement arrangements and their efficiency