India's forex kitty drops $2.28 bn to $640.33 bn

India's forex reserves decreased $2.282 billion to $640.33 billion for the seven days ended April 19 in the second consecutive week of drop in the kitty, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) said on Friday.

The reserves had dropped $5.40 billion to $643.16 billion in the previous reporting week, ending a multi-week trend of an increase, which also saw the overall reserves touching a new all-time high of $648.56 billion for the week ended April 5.

In September 2021, the country's forex kitty had reached a high of $642.45 billion, which was breached in March this year.

The reserves took a hit as the central bank deployed the kitty to defend the rupee amid pressures caused majorly by global events, but there had been a steady accretion over the past few months.

For the week ended April 19, the foreign currency assets, a major component of the reserves, decreased $3.79 billion to $560.86 billion, according to the data released on Friday.

Expressed in dollar terms, the foreign currency assets include the effect of appreciation or depreciation of non-US units like the euro, pound, and yen held in the foreign exchange reserves.

Gold reserves continued to rise and increased $1.01 billion to $56.81 billion during the week, the RBI said.

The Special Drawing Rights (SDRs) were down $43 million to $18.03 billion, the apex bank said.

India's reserve position with the IMF was also down $2 million to $4.63 billion in the reporting week, the apex bank data showed.