India's Forex Kitty Swells $9.9 Bn To $716.9 Bn

India's forex reserves jumped $9.905 billion to $716.907 billion during the week ended August 14, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) said on Friday.

In the previous reporting week ended August 7, the overall kitty had jumped $14.136 billion to $707.002 billion.

Reserves 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.

For the week ended August 14, foreign currency assets, a major component of the reserves, increased $7.225 billion to $581.851 billion, the central bank's data showed.

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

The RBI and the government had launched a series of measures to attract more forex flows into the country last month, including the FCN (B) measure. The country has so far received $56.85 billion under the concessional swap measures till August 13.

Value of gold reserves increased $2.679 billion to $111.417 billion during the week, the central bank said.

The special drawing rights (SDRs) were down $5 million at $18.74 billion, the apex bank said.

India's reserve position with the IMF was up $5 million to $4.899 billion at the end of the reporting week, according to the apex bank's data.