India, the biggest economy in South Asia, saw its foreign exchange reserves grow for the third consecutive week ended January 27, 2017. Data published by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on Friday showed that forex reserves rose $782.7 million to $361.55 billion.
Read: World's fastest-growing economy now has $372 billion in foreign exchange reserves
In the preceding two weeks, the reserves increased $932.4 million (week ended January 20) and $687.9 million (week ended January 13). The previous reporting week saw the country's forex reserves fall $1,141.9 million.
Foreign currency assets, which form a major component of India's foreign exchange reserves, rose $776 million to $339.21 billion as of January 27, 2017, while gold reserves remained unchanged at $18.58 billion, according to the RBI's weekly statistical supplement.
During the week under review, the Indian rupee dropped mid-week, but recovered later to close at 68.04 to the US dollar.
The movement for the next week ended February 3 would be interesting since it would reflect the response of foreign portfolio investors (FPIs/FIIs) to the Union Budget 2017.
FPIs were net buyers of Indian equities worth Rs 353.84 crore according to provisional data released by the National Stock Exchange (NSE) on Friday evening. The day saw shares of BSE Ltd. getting listed at a 35 percent premium, reflecting huge investor enthusiasm for the stock, the second stock exchange listing after MCX in 2012.
The NSE is also planning to enter the primary market with its initial public offering.
The RBI's Monetary Policy Committee will be meeting on February 7 and 8 to decide on the repo rate that currently stands at 6.25 percent.
