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From Less Than $1 Billion In 1991 To Over $500 Billion In 2020: India’s Forex Reserves Now At All Time High
Swarajya Staff
Jun 12, 2020, 07:18 PM | Updated 07:18 PM IST
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India’s Foreign Exchange (Forex) reserves have crossed the $500 billion mark for the first time in history and stand at $501.7 billion in the week ending on 12 June, Moneycontrol has reported.
This was a result of the Forex reserves rising by $8.22 billion in a single week.
Earlier the Forex reserves had risen by $3.43 billion in the last week of May to record the now surpassed all-time-high figure of $493.48 billion.
Such a healthy Forex reserve in the kitty means that India has adequate resources to pay for imports for more than one year. This rise in the Forex reserves is said to be a result of the economy’s strong external situation caused by lower trade deficit and higher capital inflows.
Such a high point in India’s Forex reserve history has not always been the norm and as recently as 2013 the country only had reserves roughly to cover six months of imports.
The worst moment in recent history though came in 1991 when the country had less that $1 billion in Forex reserves - barely enough to cover three weeks of import.
India had back then mortgaged over 20 tonnes of gold to generate much needed currency to service its then $70 billion foreign debt. This dire financial situation had paved the way for the 1991 economic liberalisation reforms.
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