India's forex reserves slump by $4.29 billion

Foreign currency assets, the biggest component of the forex reserves kitty, dropped sharply for the second consecutive week.

The foreign currency assets plunged by $4.17 billion to $280.70 billion during the week under review, according to the weekly statistical supplement of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), the country's central bank.

The foreign currency assets expressed in US dollar terms include the effect of appreciation or depreciation of non-US currencies such as the pound sterling, euro and yen held in reserve. The assets had declined by $1.32 billion in the previous week.

The value of special drawing rights (SDRs) dropped by $69 million to $4.54 billion and reserves with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) fell by $45 million to $2.93 billion.

However, gold reserves remained unchanged at $28.32 billion. Gold reserves had jumped by $2.97 billion in the last week due to revaluation in prices.