Forex reserves up by 1.16 bn to $279.42 bn

The country's foreign exchange reserves rose to $279.422 billion for the week ended July 9, up by around $1.16 billion over the previous week, backed by a healthy jump in foreign currency assets.

The foreign currency assets, which is a major component of the reserves, grew by $1.13 billion during the week to $253.26 billion from $252.12 billion in the week ago, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) said in its weekly report today.

Foreign currency assets expressed in US dollar terms include the effect of appreciation or depreciation of non-US currencies, such as euro, sterling and yen, held in the reserves, the RBI said.

During the week, country's gold reserves remained static at $19.89 billion while the Special Drawing Rights (SDRs) moved a notch to $4.93 billion, up from $4.91 billion in the preceding week, the data showed.

India's reserve position in the International Monetary Fund also inched up to $1.328 billion as compared to $1.325 billion the week before, the central bank said.