Forex kitty shrinks for 3rd week

Mumbai: India’s forex reserves dropped $2.412 billion to $637.922 billion as on April 26, in the third consecutive weekly decline in the reserves, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) said on Friday.

In the previous reporting week, the overall reserves had declined $2.28 billion to $640.33 billion. For the week ended April 5, the reserves had hit an all-time high of $648.562 billion following multiple weeks of increases. The earlier high of $642.453 billion achieved in September 2021 got surpassed in March this year.

For the week ended April 26, the foreign currency assets -- a major component of the reserves -- decreased $1.159 billion to $559.701 billion, the data released on Friday showed. Expressed in dollar terms, the foreign currency assets include the effect of appreciation or depreciation of non-US units like the euro, pound and yen held in the foreign exchange reserves. Gold reserves decreased $1.275 billion to $55.533 billion during the week, the RBI said.

The Special Drawing Rights (SDRs) were up $15 million to $18.048 billion, the apex bank said. India’s reserve position with the IMF was also up $8 million to $4.639 billion in the reporting week, the apex bank data showed.