India’s foreign exchange reserves fell by a whopping $4.3 billion to $316 billion for the week ended September 9, 2011. The reserves had risen by $1.6 billion and touched an all-time high of $321 billion in the previous reporting week. The fall is mostly on account of revaluation of value of foreign currency assets (FCAs).
According to the Reserve Bank of India data, FCAs, the biggest component of the reserves, stood at $280.7 billion, down by $4 billion during the reporting period.
FCAs, expressed in US dollar terms, include the effect of appreciation or depreciation of the non-US currencies such as euro, pound and yen, held in the reserves, it said. While the gold reserves remained unchanged at $28 billion, the special drawing rights (SDRs) and the reserve position with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) fell by $98 million and $63 million, respectively. SDRs and the reserve position with the IMF stood at $4.5 billion and $3 billion, respectively.
