Forex reserves up for 7th straight week, kitty at $317.85 billion

India's foreign exchange reserves surged for the seventh straight week, rising by $813.2 million to $317.85 billion in the week ended July 18 on the back of a healthy rise in the core currency assets, the RBI said today.

The total reserves had risen $643.2 million to $317.03 billion in the previous reporting week. All-time high for the reserves was $321 billion in late 2011.

Foreign currency assets (FCAs), a major constituent of the overall reserves, rose $829.1 million to $291.05 billion in the period under review, the Reserve Bank said in its weekly statement here.

FCAs, expressed in dollar terms, include the effect of appreciation/depreciation of the non-US currencies such as the euro, pound and yen held in reserves. Gold reserves remained unchanged at $20.634 billion in the reporting week.

The special drawing rights were down $11.5 million to $4.451 billion, and India's reserve position with the IMF also dipped $4.4 million to $1.712 billion in the period under review, the central bank said.