India's Forex reserves rise by $2.53 billion

Mumbai: India`s foreign exchange (Forex) reserves increased by $2.53 billion during the week ended March 18, official data showed on Friday.

According to the Reserve Bank of India`s (RBI) weekly statistical supplement, the overall Forex reserves swelled by $2.53 billion to $355.94 billion.

The overall foreign exchange reserves had risen by $2.54 billion to touch $353.40 billion for the week ended March 11.

The foreign currency assets (FCA), which is the largest component of India`s Forex reserves, increased by $2.50 billion to $332.50 billion during the week under review.

During the week ended March 11, the FCA had augmented by $2.52 billion to $329.99 billion.

Apart from the US dollar, the FCA consists of nearly 20-30 percent of other non-US dollar major global currencies, securities and bonds.

The individual movements of these currencies against the US dollar impacts the overall foreign reserves value.

The country`s gold reserves remained stagnant at $19.32 billion.

However, the special drawing rights (SDRs) gained by $12.1 million to $1.49 billion.

For the week ended March 11, the SDRs inched up by $7.2 million to $1.48 billion.

Similarly, the country`s reserve position with the IMF (International Monetary Fund) edged higher by $21.1 million to $2.61 billion.

The reserve position with IMF had gained $12.7 million to $2.59 billion for the week ended March 11.