Strong national economic planning strategies coupled with proper policies are critical components for a country’s overall development. Hence, it is essential that the entire exercise of national economic planning of the country in different sectors be managed effectively. Soft computing techniques can be used for the effective management of the various sectors of national economic planning. The external sector of a country is an important area that deals with the major parameters of the economy of a country in relation to other countries.
In this study, we forecast the year-wise estimated foreign exchange reserves of India with the help of past data of relevant parameters, using a back propagation type of artificial neural networks methodology. The results of the study indicate that in a particular financial year, if we know the values of foreign direct investments, total expenditure for all the plan schemes of the Department of Commerce, total expenditure for the special plan schemes of the Department of Commerce, the export to import ratio, the average import duty rate, and the GDP of India, then the likely value of the foreign exchange reserves of India for that particular year can be estimated with reasonable accuracy by using a back propagation type of artificial neural networks model.
