Forex reserves up by $1.97 bn to $299.39 bn

India's foreign exchange reserves increased by $1.97 billion to $299.39 billion for the week ended January 21.

The forex reserves were $297.41 billion in the previous week (ending January 14).

Foreign currency assets, a major component of the forex kitty, also increased to $269.55 billion, up 1.685 billion for the week ended January 21, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) said.

Foreign currency assets expressed in US dollar terms include the effect of appreciation or depreciation of the non-US currencies, such as the Euro, Pound and Yen, held in the reserves.

Meanwhile, India's gold reserves remained unchanged at $22.47 billion while both the special drawing rights (SDRs) and reserve position in the IMF increased.

The country's SDRs increased by $25 million to $5.126 billion, while the reserve position in the IMF rose by $267 million to $2.24-billion, the RBI data showed.