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 India's foreign exchange reserves rose for a second straight week and hit a record high of $681.69 billion as of Aug. 23, data from the central bank showed on Friday.

The reserves rose $7 billion in the reporting week. They had risen $4.5 billion in the prior week.

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) intervenes in the foreign exchange market to curb excess volatility in the rupee.

Changes in foreign currency assets are caused by the RBI's intervention as well as the appreciation or depreciation of foreign assets held in the reserves.

Foreign exchange reserves also include India's reserve tranche position in the International Monetary Fund.

In the week ending Aug. 23, the rupee traded in a range of 83.7550 to 83.9650 and logged marginal weekly gains.

The currency settled at 83.8625 on Friday, logging its second consecutive monthly decline.

FOREIGN EXCHANGE RESERVES (in million U.S. dollars)

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Aug 23 Aug 16

2024 2024

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Foreign currency assets 597,552 591,569

Gold 60,997 60,104

SDRs 18,459 18,341

Reserve Tranche Position 4,680 4,650

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Total 681,688 674,664

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Source text: (https://www.rbi.org.in/scripts/BS_PressReleaseDisplay.aspx)