India's forex reserves drop by USD 1.27 bn to USD 719.75 bn

Mumbai, Oct 30 (PTI): India's forex reserves dropped by USD 1.269 billion more to USD 719.748 billion during the week ended October 30, the RBI said on Friday.

     The overall reserves had dropped by USD 5.011 billion to USD 721.016 billion in the previous reporting week ended October 16.

     The reserves had touched an all-time high of USD 785.706 billion for the week ended September 4, driven by a heavy flow of currency as part of a special concessional swap for deposits from the diaspora through which banks raised a record sum of nearly USD 133 billion but have been on a declining trend ever since.

     Experts attribute the sharp decline in the kitty to deployment of the FCNR(B) resources and also to currency defence put up by the RBI through dollar sales.

     For the week ended October 23, foreign currency assets, a major component of reserves, increased by USD 1.358 billion to USD 593.205 billion, according to the data released by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI).

     Expressed in dollar terms, the foreign currency assets include effects of appreciation or depreciation of non-US units, such as the euro, pound and yen, held in foreign exchange reserves.

     The value of gold reserves decreased by USD 2.65 billion to USD 103.15 billion during the week, the RBI said.

     The Special Drawing Rights (SDRs) were up by USD 27 million to USD 18.605 billion, the apex bank said.

     India's reserve position with the IMF decreased by USD 4 million to USD 4.787 billion, the RBI said.

(This story has not been edited by THE WEEK and is auto-generated from PTI)