Foreign exchange reserves surge to new lifetime high of $409.4 billion

RBI said surge due to massive spike in foreign currency assets, which is a key component of the reserves

Scaling new peaks for the second consecutive week, the country's foreign exchange reserves surged by a whopping $4.444 billion to touch a new life- time high of $409.366 billion in the week to December 29, Reserve Bank data showed today.

In the previous week, foreign exchange reserves had spurted by $3.53 billion to reach $404.921 billion.

The central bank said the surge was due to a massive spike in foreign currency assets, which is a key component of the reserves.

The reserves had crossed the $400-billion mark for the first time in the week to September 8 last year but has since been fluctuating.

In the reporting week, the foreign currency assets rose by $4.423 billion to $385.103 billion.

Expressed in the US dollar terms, the foreign currency assets include the effect of appreciation or depreciation of the non-US currencies such as the euro, the pound and the yen held in the reserves.

Gold reserves remained unchanged at $20.716 billion, the central bank said.

The special drawing rights with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) rose by $8.9 million to $1.511 billion.

The country's reserve position with the IMF also increased by $12.1 million to $2.035 billion, the central bank said.