India's forex reserves drop by $1.37 billion

Mumbai, May 19 (IANS) India's foreign exchange reserves declined by $1.37 billion to $291.80 billion for the week ended May 11, largely due to drop in the value of core currency reserves, official data showed.

The forex reserves has dropped sharply for the second consecutive week. It had declined by $2.18 billion in the previous week.

Foreign currency assets, the biggest component of the forex reserves kitty, fell by $1.33 billion to $257.85 billion during the week under review, according to the Reserve Bank of India's weekly statistical supplement.

The RBI did not provide any reasons for the change in foreign currency assets.

It said the assets expressed in US dollar terms included the effect of appreciation or depreciation of non-US currencies such as the pound sterling, euro and yen held in reserve.

However, the RBI is understood to have sold dollars from the reserves to curb the slide in the value of rupee.

The Indian rupee slumped to a new intra-day low of 54.91 against a dollar Friday. This was the third consecutive record low of rupee in the last three days. The rupee had hit a low of 54.60 against a dollar Thursday, surpassing previous day's record of 54.52.

The rupee also hit a new closing low of 54.49 against a dollar Wednesday and ended the week at 54.42.

The value of special drawing rights (SDRs) declined by $25.6 million to $4.43 billion, and India's reserves with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) fell by $16.7 million to $2.88 billion.

The value of gold reserves remained unchanged at $26.61 billion.