Forex reserves surge by US $1.30 billion to snap 5-week fall

The country's foreign exchange (forex) reserves, after falling for five straight weeks, rose by a whopping US $1.309 billion to US $312.737 billion in the week ending October 10, on account of rise in foreign currency assets, according to data released by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on Friday.

In the previous week, forex reserves had fallen to US $311.427 billion, a loss of US $2.754 billion. Meanwhile, in the week to July 25, 2014, the reserves had touched a near life-time high of US $320.56 billion, an inch away from the all time high of US $320.79 billion on September 2, 2011.

The foreign currency assets, a major constituent of overall reserves, increased by US $1.297 billion to US $286.885 billion, the central bank said. Foreign currency assets, expressed in dollar terms, include the effect of appreciation and depreciation of non-US currencies such as the euro, pound and yen held in reserves.

Gold reserves of the country, however, remained unchanged at US $20.013 billion. Special Drawing Rights (SDRs) were up US $9.3 million to US $4.293 billion, while the country's reserve position with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) surged by US $3.3 million to US $1.544 billion during the week, RBI data showed.