India's forex reserves dropped by USD 2.691 billion to USD 717.056 billion during the week ended October 30, the RBI said on Friday. In the previous week, the forex kitty had reduced by USD 1.269 billion to USD 719.748 billion.
The reserves had touched an all-time high of USD 785.706 billion during 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 USD 133 billion, but have been on a decline ever since.
Experts attribute this decline to the deployment of the FCNR(B) resources and also to currency defence put up by the RBI through dollar sales.
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During the week ended October 30, foreign currency assets, a major component of reserves, decreased by USD 2.088 billion to USD 591.118 billion, according to the data released by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI).
Expressed in dollar terms, the foreign currency assets include the 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 559 million to USD 102.591 billion during the week, RBI said.
The Special Drawing Rights (SDRs) were down by USD 47 million to USD 18.558 billion, the central bank said. India's reserve position with the IMF was up by USD 3 million to USD 4.79 billion, RBI said.
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