India’s foreign exchange reserves declined by $611.9 million to $294.54 billion in the week ended February 8. The decline in reserves was mainly on account of drop in foreign currency assets. The foreign currency assets (FCA) slipped by $542.8 million to $260.78 billion in the reporting week, as per the Reserve Bank of India data. Besides FCA, foreign exchange reserves also include gold, special drawing rights (SDRs) and reserve position in the International Monetary Fund. In the previous week ended February 1, the reserves had slumped by $595.2 million to $295.15 billion. Changes in FCA, expressed in dollar terms, include the effect of appreciation/depreciation of other currencies held in the reserves, the RBI said. In the reporting week, India’s gold reserves remained unchanged at $26.97 billion. SDRs dropped marginally by $0.6 million to $4.425 billion, while the reserve position was down by $1.5 million to $ 2.362 billion, the RBI data said.
Since end-March 2012, the country’s foreign exchange reserves have increased $145.1 million.
Beena.parmar@thehindu.co.in