India's forex reserves fall for fourth week, down $50 bn from Sept peak at $734 bn

India's foreign exchange reserves declined for a fourth consecutive week, reaching $734.6 billion, as reported in a footnote to Reserve Bank of India Governor Sanjay Malhotra's statement. The reserves have fallen from their peak of $785.71 billion on September 4, a decrease of approximately $50 billion in under a month. This drop is attributed to the RBI's dollar sales in the spot market to stabilize the rupee and conduct FX swaps to absorb excess liquidity.

Despite these efforts, the rupee has continued to depreciate due to factors such as high oil prices, rising US Treasury yields, and increased foreign equity outflows. The decline intensified on Wednesday, with the currency weakening nearly 0.5 percent to 96.8450 per dollar, nearing its lowest level of 96.96.