Mumbai, Dec 22 (IANS): India's foreign exchange reserves increased for the fifth week in a row to scale a 20-month high of $615.97 billion as of December 15, a data released by the RBI on Friday showed.

The country's foreign exchange reserves jumped by $9.11 billion for the week ending December 15 after having increased by $2.82 billion to $606.86 billion for the week ending on December 8.

In the week ended December 1, the foreign exchange reserves had shot up by $6.1 billion to touch an over four-month high of $604.04 billion.

An increase in the foreign exchange reserves props up the marcoeconomic fundamentals of the economy and helps the RBI to stabilise the rupee when it turns volatile.

The RBI intervenes in the spot and forward currency markets by releasing more dollars to prevent the rupee from going into a free fall when it comes under pressure.

Any sharp decline in the country's forex kitty leaves the RBI less headroom to intervene in the market to stabilise the rupee.