Forex reserves rise by $3.37 billion to cross $116 billion

Propelled by inflows in public offerings of state-owned undertakings, including that of ONGC, India’s foreign exchange reserves jumped ...

Propelled by inflows in public offerings of state-owned undertakings, including that of ONGC, India’s foreign exchange reserves jumped by a record $3.37 billion to cross the $116 billion mark for the week ended April 9.

The country’s forex reserves rose from $1,12,680 million to a new peak of $1,16,060 million in the period under review, according to RBI’s weekly statistical supplement issued here on Saturday.

Foreign currency assets also surged ahead by $3,385 million at $1,10,560 million, it added. Revaluation of the US dollar vis-a-vis other currencies and export remittances were some of other reasons for the massive increase in forex reserves.

Gold reserves and special drawing rights remained static at $4,198 million and $2 million respectively.

India’s Reserve Tranche Position (RTP) with the IMF declined by $15 million to $1,300 million, the central bank added.

Loans and advances to Centre continued to have a nil balance while that to the state governments increased by Rs 1,468 crore to Rs 4,536 crore, the RBI said.

Aggregate deposits of scheduled commercial banks were up substantially by Rs 40,825 crore (2.7 per cent) to Rs 15,42,757 crore as on April two.

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Bank credit during this period also increased by Rs 32,054 crore (3.8 per cent) to Rs 8,67,436 crore.