Forex reserves decline by $1.88 bn to $623.983 bn, shows RBI data

India's forex reserves dropped by US$ 1.88 billion to US$ 623.983 billion in the week ended January 17, the RBI said on Friday.

Earlier, the overall kitty declined by US$ 8.714 billion to US$ 625.871 billion in the week ended January 10, the Reserve Bank of India said.

The reserves have been on a declining trend for the last few weeks, and the drop has been attributed to revaluation along with forex market interventions by RBI to help reduce volatilities in the rupee.

The forex reserves had increased to an all-time high of US$ 704.885 billion in end-September.

For the week ended January 17, foreign currency assets, a major component of the reserves, decreased by US$ 2.878 billion to US$ 533.133 billion, the data released on Friday showed.

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

Gold reserves increased by US$ 1.063 million to US$ 68.947 billion during the week, the RBI said.

The Special Drawing Rights (SDRs) were up by US$ 01 million to US$ 17.782 billion, the apex bank said.

India's reserve position with the IMF was down by US$ 74 million at US$ 4.122 billion in the reporting week, the data showed.