Indias forex reserves rise by over $5 billion

India’s foreign exchange reserves rose by $5.271 billion during the week ended May 28. According to the Reserve Bank of India’s (RBI) weekly statistical supplement, the reserves increased to $598.165 billion from $592.894 billion reported for the week ended May 21.

India’s forex reserves comprise foreign currency assets (FCAs), gold reserves, special drawing rights (SDRs), and the country’s reserve position with the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

On a weekly basis, FCAs, the largest component of the forex reserves, edged higher by $5.010 billion to $553.529 billion. Similarly, the value of the country’s gold reserves gained by $265 million to $38.106 billion.

Besides, the SDR value gained by $2 million at $1.515 billion.

On the other hand, the country’s reserve position with the IMF inched lower by $5 million to $5.016 billion.

An estimated 30 million NRIs living in 160 countries are looking at India for real estate investment opportunities. India has been consistently notching up the top slot in expatriate remittance for years now from $55.6 billion in 2010-11 to $64 billion in 2020.

Among the investment options, real estate plays a key role. The NRI demand for Indian real estate has been riding strong throughout first quarter of this year on the back of lucrative benefits offered on stamp duty by the state governments of Maharashtra and Karnataka.

This resulted in large number of property transactions and registrations across these micro markets. NRI demand did stutter a bit post the withdrawal of stamp duty offers and the simultaneous worsening of Covid situation in India. However, with developers once again bringing back price softeners, NRI demand is gradually picking up. There is significant appetite for properties of Grade A developers, said Shajai Jacob, CEO – GCC (Middle East), Anarock Property Consultants Pvt Ltd.