Forex reserves dip by $1.5 billion to $366.13 billion

MUMBAI: India's foreign exchange reserves dipped $1.5 billion as the Reserve Bank of India seems to have started to dig into its foreign exchange reserves to manage the stress arising out of the FCNR(Foreign currency non resident-bank) redemptions.

The forex reserves stood at $366 billion as on October 14 of this year said the RBI in a statement on Friday. This is the second successive fall in the reserves with the banking regulator after the massive last week fall of $4.3 billion.

"The RBI had built up its reserves leading up to the FCNR(B) redemptions and there is bound to be some hit on the reserves now," said market sources.

The RBI is expected to see a $26 billion outflow in the next two months which is expected to put some pressure on the local currency as well as the reserves as the funds raised in 2013 under the FCNR(B) scheme are hitting maturity.

The country has also seen an inflow of Rs 46,239 crore till October of this year in the form of foreign investment as per data from NSDL.