India's forex reserves rise $503.6 mn to record high of $424.864 bn

The country's foreign exchange reserves rose by USD 503.6 million to touch a life-time high of USD 424.864 billion in the week to April 6, aided by increase in foreign currency assets, the Reserve Bank said on Friday.

In the previous week, the reserves had surged by USD 1.828 billion to USD 424.366 billion.

It had crossed the USD 400-billion mark for the first time in the week to September 8, 2017, but has since been fluctuating.

In the reporting week, the foreign currency assets, a major component of the overall reserves, rose by USD 657.7 million to USD 399.776 billion.

Expressed in the US dollar terms, the foreign currency assets include the effect of appreciation or depreciation of the non-US currencies such as the euro, the pound and the yen held in the reserves.

After remaining stable for past few weeks, gold reserves decreased by USD 130.7 million to USD 21.484 billion in the reporting week, the central bank said.

The special drawing rights with the International Monetary Fund declined by USD 10 million to USD 1.534 billion.

The country's reserve position with the IMF also decreased by USD 13.4 million to USD 2.070 billion, the apex bank said.