Forex reserves rise by $25.6 bn

The country's foreign exchange reserves increased by $25.6 billion during April-December 2006, with foreign investment and external commercial borrowings being the major source of accretion.

In the year-ago period, forex reserves had dipped by $4.3 billion, the Reserve Bank said today.

As of March 16, India's forex reserves stood at $195.957 billion. While foreign investment witnessed a moderate decline to $11 billion during the period as against $11.5 billion in 2005, external commercial borrowings increased to $9.1 billion as against a decline of $1.2 billion in April- December 2005.

The share of NRI deposits in banking capital increased to $3.2 billion from $1.1 billion last year. The valuation gain, due to the appreciation of major currencies against the US dollar accounted for $9.4 billion as against a valuation loss of $6.1 billion, the RBI said.