Mumbai, Nov 27: The country's foreign exchange reserves for the first time crossed the $34 billion-mark on November 19. The reserves rose by $241 million to $34.03 billion, compared with $33.79 billion on November 12, the weekly statistical supplement of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) said on Saturday.Heavy foreign currency inflows during the month on account of investments by foreign institutional investors (FIIs) and foreign direct investment (FDI) have added to the country's forex reserves. The FIIs invested about $267 million in the markets during November. The FIIs were net-sellers in the previous two months. The Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB) approved over 100 FDI proposals worth $409 million in the first two weeks of November.
Forex reserves comprise foreign currency assets, gold reserves, and special drawing rights (SDRs) of the country. Foreign currency assets increased by $243 million to $30.81 billion, against $30.56 billion in the previous week. The SDRs declined by $2 million to$4 million, while gold reserves remained unchanged at $3.21 billion. During the week ended November 5, the year-on-year growth in broad money (M3) supply was 16.4 per cent, compared with the previous fortnight's 15.9 per cent, the supplement said.
The total money supply was Rs 10,60,797 crore during the fortnight ended November 5, against Rs 10,54,505 crore during the previous fortnight and Rs 9,15,943 crore a year back.
Loans and advances by the RBI to the Government under the ways and means advances (WMA) account fell by Rs 1,729 crore to Rs 6,999 crore during the week ended November 12, from Rs 8,728 crore in the previous week, the supplement said. Loans and advances to state governments declined by Rs 160 crore to Rs 3,669 crore during the period, against Rs 3,829 crore in the previous week.
Aggregate deposits declined by Rs 1,022 crore to Rs 7,69,274 crore during the fortnight ended November 5, against Rs 7,70,296 crore on October 22.During the period, demand deposits decreased by Rs 999 crore toRs 1,12,379 crore, while time deposits fell by Rs 24 crore to Rs 6,56,895 crore.
Bank credit rose by Rs 2,351 crore to Rs 3,93,987 crore on November 5, compared with Rs 3,96,338 crore on October 22. Food credit increased by Rs 1,775 crore to Rs 23,179 crore, while non-food credit rose by Rs 576 crore to Rs 3,70,808 crore.
Copyright © 1999 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.