India's forex reserves surge to USD 318.2 bn: RBI

Mumbai, Aug 27: The country''s foreign exchange reserves surged USD 1.615 billion to USD 318.22 billion on the back of a sharp rise in foreign currency assets (FCAs) for the week ended August 19.

The total foreign exchange reserves had slipped by USD 621 million to USD 316.605 billion in the week before. FCAs, the biggest component of the foreign reserves, rose by USD 1.584 billion to USD 285.251 billion for the reporting week, the Reserve Bank said in its weekly data released on Aug 26.

FCAs, expressed in US dollar terms, include the effect of appreciation or depreciation of the non-US currencies, such as the euro, the pound and the yen, held in the reserves. The gold reserves remained unchanged at USD 25.349 billion, the data showed.

Meanwhile, both the special drawing rights (SDRs) and reserve position in the IMF were up during the week. The SDRs increased by USD 19 million to USD 4.633 billion, while India''s reserve position in the IMF also increased by USD 12 million to USD 2.987 billion, the RBI data showed.

PTI