Forex reserves up by USD 350 mn to USD141.590 bn

Mumbai, March 3 (UNI) Foreign exchange reserves (Forex) went up for the sixth week in a row by US dollar 350 million to USD 141.590 billion for the week ended on February 24, according to the weekly supplement released by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI).

The rise in the forex reserves could be attributed to the healthy foreign fund inflow in the booming equity markets and a stable rupee versus the US currency.

The reserves had gone up by US dollar 811 million to USD 141.240 billion for the week ended on Feb 17.

Foreign currency assets rose by USD 349 million to USD 135.155 billion, the RBI said.

Gold reserves were unchanged at USD 5.680 billion, while that of SDRs were unchanged at Rs 12 crore.

The reserve tranche position with the IMF decreased by USD one million to USD 752 million.

Loans and advances of the Central government remained nil for the week ended on February 25. The loans and advances of the State governments decreased by 14 crores during the week ended on February 25 to Rs 2,228 crore.

The aggregate deposits with the scheduled commercial banks were down by Rs 1,025 crore to Rs 19,71,063 crore for the fortnight ending on February 17, the Central bank said.

The bank credits rose up by Rs 16,539 crore to Rs 13,99,040 crore during the same period.

The food credit was up by Rs 577 crore to Rs 40,529 crore and non-food credit was up by Rs 15,963 crore to Rs 13,58,511 crore.

Meanwhile, the rupee was stronger 11 paise to 44.32/33 per USD, as compared to last week's close at 44.43/44 on the back healthy foreign fund inflow.

UNI RRP MJ AW1910