Forex reserves drop $2 bn to $652.86 bn, a nearly six-month low: RBI data

India's foreign exchange reserves fell by nearly $2 billion to an almost six-month low of $652.87 billion as of Dec. 13, data from the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) showed on Friday.  India's forex reserves dropped by $ 1.988 billion to $ 652.869 billion for the week ended December 13, the RBI said on Friday.

In the previous reporting week, the overall reserves had dropped by $ 3.235 billion to $ 654.857 billion.

The reserves have been declining for the last few weeks, and the drop has been attributed to revaluation, along with forex market interventions by the RBI to help reduce volatilities in the rupee. The forex reserves had increased to an all-time high of $ 704.885 billion in September.  Changes in foreign currency assets are caused by the central bank's intervention in the forex market as well as the appreciation or depreciation of foreign assets held in the reserves.

For the week ended December 13, foreign currency assets, a major component of the reserves, decreased by $ 3.047 billion to $ 562.576 billion, the data released on Friday showed.

Expressed in US 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 $ 1.121 billion to $ 68.056 billion during the week, the RBI said.

The Special Drawing Rights (SDRs) were down by $ 35 million to $ 17.997 billion, the apex bank said.

India's reserve position with the IMF was also down by $ 27 million to $ 4.24 billion in the reporting week, the apex bank data showed.