India's foreign exchange reserves fall by $7.5 bn to $681.4 bn: RBI

India's forex reserves fell sharply as RBI interventions and declining gold and foreign currency assets weighed on the overall kitty

India's forex reserves dropped $7.511 billion to $681.384 billion during the week ended May 22, the RBI said on Friday.

In the previous reporting week, the kitty had dropped $8.094 billion to $688.894 billion. 

The kitty had expanded to an all-time high of $728.494 billion during the week ended February 27 this year before the onset of the Middle East conflict that led to several weeks of a drop as the rupee came under pressure and the RBI had to intervene in the forex market through dollar sales. 

Prime Minister Narendra Modi has also made multiple public appeals to countrymen to conserve forex by cutting down on foreign travel, limiting fuel use and refraining from gold buys for a year. 

 

For the week ended May 22, foreign currency assets, a major component of the reserves, decreased $2.872 billion to $543.032 billion, the central bank's data showed. 

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

The value of gold reserves also declined $4.53 billion to $114.786 billion during the week, the RBI said. 

The Special Drawing Rights (SDRs) were down by $77 million to $18.748 billion, the apex bank said. 

India's reserve position with the IMF was also down by $33 million to $4.818 billion at the end of the reporting week, according to the RBI data.