Forex reserves jump $16.4 bn in first 9 months of FY'15: RBI

India's foreign exchange reserves increased by USD 16.4 billion in nominal terms during the first nine months of the current fiscal.
"Foreign exchange reserves in nominal terms, which includes the valuation effects, increased by USD 16.4 billion during the April-December period compared to USD 1.8 billion during the same period of preceding year," as per Reserve Bank data on sources of variation in forex reserves released today.
As of December 26, 2014, total forex reserves stood at USD 320 billion.
There was a valuation loss of USD 14.8 billion in the period as against a loss of USD 6.6 billion, RBI said and attributed it mainly "to appreciation of the US dollar against major currencies along with the decline in international price of gold, which amounted to USD 14.8 billion in the period".

In the sources of variation, the current account balance showed a decline of USD 26.3 billion in the period as against a drop of USD 31.1 billion in the year-ago period.
The capital account showed an increase of USD 57.6 billion as against a rise of USD 39.4 billion a year ago.

Among the various components of the capital account, foreign investments shot up by USD 52.2 billion, of which FDI rose by USD 23.8 billion, portfolio investments and foreign institutional investments increased by USD 28.5 billion each.
In the period under review, banking capital stood at USD 10 billion, of which NRI deposits were USD 10.1 billion.

External commercial borrowing was at USD 5.2 billion as against USD 6.7 billion in the year-ago period.
On balance of payments basis, which excludes valuation effects, the forex increased by USD 31.3 billion during the period compared to USD 8.4 billion during the same period last year.