India's forex reserves rise by $731.8 million

After the sixth straight weekly decline, India's foreign exchange reserves rose by $731.8 million to $293.25 billion for the week ended January 20, the reserve bank of India's data showed.

The reserves had dropped by $14.25 billion in the previous six weeks under review, mainly because of revaluation of non-dollar assets and sale of dollars by the central bank to curb the rupee's slide.

Foreign currency assets, the biggest component of the forex reserves kitty, rose by $704.6 million to $259.50 billion for the week ended January 20, according to the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) weekly statistical supplement.

The RBI did not provide any reasons for the change in foreign currency assets.

It said the assets expressed in US dollar terms included the effect of appreciation or depreciation of non-US currencies such as the pound sterling, euro and yen held in reserve.

The value of special drawing rights (SDRs) rose by $16.9 million to $4.42 billion, and India's reserves with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) increased by $10.3 million to $2.70 billion.

However, the value of gold reserves remained unchanged at $26.62 billion.