The country’s foreign exchange reserves for the week ended April 4, 2008, rose by Rs 7,047 crore to Rs 12,46,605 crore. Foreign-currency assets increased by Rs 5,092 crore to Rs 12, 04,671crore, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) said in its weekly statistical supplement (WSS), in Mumbai.
Gold reserves climbed Rs 1,970 crore to Rs 40,124 crore. The nation’s reserves with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) fell by Rs 15 crore to Rs 1,736 crore, while its special drawing rights with the IMF declined to Rs 74 crore.
The change in foreign-currency assets is partly because of changes in the value of the dollar against the euro, yen and other currencies during the period, the central bank said. The country’s foreign-exchange reserves rose Rs 3, 81,923 crore over the past year, the bank said. The RBI bought $3.88 billion of foreign currency in February, its 16th straight month of purchases.
The central bank’s currency purchases in February fell 72% from a record $13.6 billion in the previous month. The RBI bought a total $75.4 billion in the first 11 months of the fiscal year ended March 31, boosting foreign- exchange reserves to a record $309.2 billion as of March 28.
Meanwhile, money supply growth or M3 was at 20.7% at Rs 39, 98,887 crore in the two weeks ended March 28.
