India's foreign exchange reserves crossed $700 billion for the first time on record, after climbing for seven straight weeks, on valuation gains and the central bank's dollar purchases.

India's forex reserves jumped by USD 12.588 billion to a new all-time high of USD 704.885 billion for the week ended September 27, the Reserve Bank said on Friday. The overall kitty had swelled by USD 2.

With this achievement, India joins the ranks of only three other economies—China, Japan, and Switzerland—that have crossed the $700 billion threshold in forex reserves.

India's government is urging the Supreme Court to reject efforts to update a 160-year-old rape law, arguing it could disrupt "the institution of marriage."

The Indian government has opposed petitions in the top court that seek criminalisation of marital rape, saying it would be "excessively harsh". The federal home ministry told the Supreme Court that "a man does not have a fundamental right" to force sex on his wife, but there were enough laws to protect married women against sexual violence.

India's government has insisted that marital rape should be treated more leniently than other rape offences in an ongoing Supreme Court case brought by campaigners seeking to outlaw it.