BENGALURU, Dec 19 Reuters The International Monetary Fund has reclassified India39;s de facto exchange rate regime to stabilized arrangement from floating for December 2022 to October 2023, following an article IV review of the country39;s policies.

The reclassification follows the Reserve Bank of India39;s likely interventions in the foreign exchange market, where the rupee moved in a very narrow range against the U.S. dollar, suggesting intervention likely exceeded levels necessary to address disorderly market conditions, IMF said in the report.

The IMF39;s Article IV consultation report reviews a country39;s current and mediumterm economic policies and outlook.

In a press release, the IMF said its staff diverged from Indian authorities39; view that exchange rate stability reflects improvements in Indias external position and that foreign exchange interventions have been used to avoid excessive volatility not warranted by fundamentals.

Between December 2022 and October 2023, the rupee traded in a range of 80.8883.42 against the U.S. dollar. Since October, the range has narrowed to 82.9083.42 and volatility expectations have fallen to the lowest in over a decade.

RBI Governor Shaktikanta Das said in October that currency market interventions should not be seen as black and white and is needed to prevent volatility and build reserves.

India39;s forex reserves are assessed at just above 100 of the IMF composite reserve adequacy metric, the report said.

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