India's foreign exchange reserves reached a new high crossing the US dollar 50 billion mark during the week ended February 15.

The foreign exchange reserves surged ahead by USD 442 million at USD 50,208 million in the reporting week, according to Reserve Bank of India's weekly statistical supplement issued in Mumbai. During the past four weeks the reserves had increased by USD one billion. For the week ending January 18, the reserves had crossed USD 49 billion.
Apart from fresh inflows, the apex bank has been buying foreign exchange in a major way. Earlier this month, RBI governor Bimal Jalan had said it was the apex bank's policy to build adequate reserves to meet any external obligations for the next 12-18 months. RBI said the foreign currency assets (FCA) also pierced the USD 47 billion barrier to touch USD 47,285 million, witnessing a rise of USD 437 million.
Special drawing rights increased by USD five million at USD 10 million while gold reserves remained unchanged at USD 2,913 million. Foreign currency assets expressed in US dollar terms include the effect of appreciation/depreciation of non-US currencies such as Euro, Sterling and Yen held in reserves. Bureau Report