Forex kitty continues to swell for the third week, crosses $406.7 billion

India's foreign exchange reserves continued to surge for the third week in a row, adding USD 1.029 billion at USD 406.667 billion in the week to March 22, according to the Reserve Bank data.

Forex reserves had increased by USD 3.6 billion to USD 405.6 billion in the previous reporting week driven by an increase in foreign currency assets.

For the reporting week, foreign currency assets -- a major component of the overall reserves -- increased by USD 1.031 billion to USD 378.805 billion, the RBI said Friday.

Expressed in the greenbacks, foreign currency assets include the effect of appreciation/depreciation of non-US units like the euro, pound and the yen held in the reserves.

The reserves had touched a life-time high of USD 426.028 billion in the week to April 13, 2018. Since then, the reserve kitty has been sliding as the rupee came under pressure.

But since March this year it has been increasing on the back of rising foreign investors' play in domestic equities.

Gold reserves were unchanged at USD 23.408 billion in the reporting week, according to data from the central bank.

The special drawing rights with the International Monetary Fund dipped by USD 0.7 million to USD 1.460 billion.

The country's reserve position with the Fund, too, came down marginally by USD 1.5 million to USD 2.993 billion, the apex bank said.