Forex reserves dip by $1.5 bn at $252.33 bn

India’s foreign exchange reserves declined by $1.5 billion to $252.33 billion for the week ended March 27, 2009, mainly due to the revaluation of currencies against the dollar.

According to Reserve Bank of India (RBI) data, foreign currency assets that include the effect of appreciation or depreciation of the euro, the sterling and the yen held by reserves fell by $1.64 billion to $241.59 billion. This did not include the $250 million invested in foreign currency denominated bonds issued by IIFC.

Gold and special drawings rights remained unchanged. The reserve position in the International Monetary Fund (IMF) went up by $141 million to $982 million.

Thanks to the rising participation from the foreign institutional investors (FIIs), forex reserves have been rising for the past two weeks. This has led the rupee to appreciate. The currency closed at 50.60 on March 26, 2009, as against 50.64 on March 20.

During the week under review, FII have been net buyers of equities worth $652 million. On a year-on-year basis, the reserves grew by 9 per cent at Rs 9,47,014 crore mainly due to rise in other deposits with RBI. It includes currency in circulation, bankers’ deposit with RBI and other deposits with the central bank. The reserve money has been hovering around 3-5 per cent for the last three months.