India’s forex reserves fall $1.2 billion to $719.74 billion as of October 24

India’s foreign exchange reserves declined by $1.2 billion to $719.74 billion in the week ended October 24, according to data released by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on Friday.

For the previous week, India's forex reserves had fallen by $5 billion to $721.02 billion.

The reserves touched an all-time high of $785.706 billion for the week ended September 4, following substantial foreign currency inflows through a special concessional swap scheme for diaspora deposits.


Under the scheme, banks raised a record amount of nearly $133 billion. However, the country's forex reserves have been on a declining trajectory since then.

Market experts have attributed the sustained drawdown partly to the deployment of funds raised through Foreign Currency Non-Resident (Bank) or FCNR(B) deposits, as well as the RBI's interventions in the foreign exchange market to support the rupee through dollar sales.

For the week ended October 24, foreign currency assets, which account for a major share of India's forex reserves, increased by $1.3 billion to $593.20 billion, according to RBI data.

Foreign currency assets are expressed in dollar terms and reflect not only movements in major currencies but also changes in the value of other currencies, including the euro, pound and yen, held in the reserves.

The value of gold reserves, meanwhile, declined by $2.6 billion to $103.15 billion during the week.

Special Drawing Rights (SDRs), the reserve assets created by the International Monetary Fund (IMF), increased by $27 million to $18.605 billion, the RBI data showed.

India's reserve position with the IMF, another component of its foreign exchange reserves, fell by $4 million to $4.787 billion during the reporting week.