India’s forex reserves slump by over $4 bn

MUMBAI - India’s foreign exchange (forex) reserves declined by over $4 billion to $293.98 billion for the week ended Nov 26, falling sharply for the third straight week because of heavy loss in foreign currency reserves.

The country’s forex reserves declined by $6.23 billion in the three consecutive weeks under review. The total forex reserves stand at $293.979 for the week ended Nov 26 as against $297.98 billion during the previous week and over $300 billion during the week ended Nov 5.

Foreign currency reserves, that include US dollar, euro and British pound, among others, declined by $3.92 billion to $265.255 billion during the week ended Nov 26, according to weekly data released by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI).

A sharp decline in the foreign currency assets, the biggest component of the forex reserves kitty, has been the main reason for the loss of forex reserves for the third consecutive week. The foreign currency reserves declined $6.03 billion in the three straight weeks.

Special Drawing Rights (SDRs) fell by $62 million to $5.082 billion and the reserve with the International Monetary Fund declined by $24 million to $1.974 billion.

However, the value of gold reserves remained unchanged at $21.668 billion.