Forex reserves drop to $781 billion after hitting a peak of $785 billion

India's foreign exchange reserves declined in the week ended September 11, suggesting that most FCNR(B) inflows awaiting conversion with the Reserve Bank may have already been swapped, analysts said.

Forex reserves decreased by $4.9 billion to $780.7 billion, after reaching a peak of $785 billion in the previous week. The fall in reserves comes as valuation of gold reserves decreased by $2.6 billion to $111.2 billion, and foreign currency assets decreased by $2.4 billion to $645.7 billion. The decrease in foreign currency assets is likely because the RBI sold dollars in the spot market to prevent the rupee from excess depreciation.

On a net basis, since the start of the FCNR(B) scheme, foreign exchange reserves rose $99 billion to $780 billion as of September 11, from $681 billion as of June 5.