Data released on March 18 showed India’s foreign exchange reserves fell by a massive $ 9.65 billion in the week ended March 11 as the Reserve Bank of India tried to prop up a sliding rupee. This was the biggest weekly fall in reserves in almost two years. But as per data going back until April 2001, this is the fourth-largest weekly decline. Three of the top five crashes occurred in the aftermath of Lehmann Brothers filing for bankruptcy on September 15, 2008. The second spot is coronavirus-enforced, taking place the week after the WHO declared COVID-19 a pandemic. With the Russia-Ukraine crisis still unresolved, India may have to draw further from its forex reserves.
