India's forex kitty declines $5.69 bn to $634.58 bn, shows RBI data

India's forex reserves dropped by $5.693 billion to $634.585 billion in the week ended January 3, the Reserve Bank of India said on Friday.

In the previous reporting week, the overall kitty had declined by $4.112 billion to $640.279 billion.

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

For the week ended January 3, foreign currency assets, a major component of the reserves, decreased by $6.441 billion to $545.48 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 $824 million to $67.092 billion during the week, the RBI said.

The Special Drawing Rights (SDRs) were down by $58 million to $17.815 billion, the apex bank said.

India's reserve position with the IMF was down by $18 million at $4.199 billion in the reporting week, the apex bank data showed.