India's foreign exchange (Forex) reserves rose by $631.5 million to $352.02 billion in the week ended September 18, official data showed on Friday.The reserves gained by $2.35 billion to rise to $351.38 billion in the week ended September 11. However, the reserves had declined by $2.88 billion in the week ended September 4 to $349.03 billion.Furthermore, the data furnished by the RBI in its weekly statistical supplement showed that the foreign currency assets (FCAs), had risen by $592.7 million to $328.56 billion in the week under review.
The FCA constitutes the largest component of forex reserves. It consists of US dollars, non-dollar currencies, securities and bonds bought abroad. "The FCA expressed in US dollar terms, includes the effect of appreciation or depreciation of non-US currencies such as the pound sterling, euro and yen held in reserve," the RBI was quoted in its statistical supplement.During the week under review, the country's gold reserves remained stagnant. The country's gold reserves had depleted by $214.8 million at $18.03 billion during the week ended September 4. The special drawing rights (SDRs) in the week under review were higher by $29.3 million at $4.09 billion. The country's reserve position with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) edged up by $9.5 million to $1.32 billion.