India’s foreign exchange (Forex) reserves rose for the third consecutive week to touch a new lifetime high of $670.86 billion as of July 19, according to the latest data released by the RBI on Friday. The reserves surged by $4 billion during the week after increasing by a cumulative of $14.9 billion in the preceding two weeks. India’s Current Account Deficit (CAD) declined to $23.2 billion (0.7 percent of GDP) during 2023-24 from $67.0 billion (2.0 percent of GDP) during the previous year due to a lower merchandise trade deficit, which reflects a robust external balance position, according to RBI data released on June 24 this year. The RBI data also showed that India’s CAD recorded a surplus of $5.7 billion (0.6 percent of GDP) in the January-March quarter (Q4) of 2023-24 as against a deficit of $8.7 billion (1.0 percent of GDP) in the preceding October-December quarter of 2023-24.