India's foreign exchange reserves increased by $2.491 billion to $719.547 billion during the week ended November 6, according to data released by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on Friday.
The rise came after the country's forex reserves declined by $2.691 billion to $717.056 billion in the preceding week.
The reserves had touched an all-time high of $785.706 billion during the week ended September 4, supported by substantial foreign currency inflows under a special concessional swap facility for deposits from the Indian diaspora.
Banks had raised a record $133 billion through the arrangement, contributing to the sharp increase in reserves. However, the country's foreign exchange holdings had been declining since reaching that peak.
๐๐ผ๐น๐ฑ ๐ฟ๐ฒ๐๐ฒ๐ฟ๐๐ฒ๐ ๐ฑ๐ฟ๐ถ๐๐ฒ ๐ด๐ฎ๐ถ๐ป๐
The value of India's gold reserves increased sharply by $2.205 billion to $104.796 billion during the reporting week, accounting for the bulk of the overall rise in forex reserves.
Foreign currency assets, the largest component of the country's reserves, rose by $232 million to $591.350 billion, the central bank said.
Expressed in US dollar terms, foreign currency assets reflect the impact of appreciation or depreciation of non-dollar currencies, including the euro, pound sterling and Japanese yen, held in the reserves.
The latest figures indicated that the increase in gold holdings played a significant role in reversing the previous week's decline.
๐ฆ๐๐ฅ๐ ๐ฎ๐ป๐ฑ ๐๐ ๐ ๐ต๐ผ๐น๐ฑ๐ถ๐ป๐ด๐ ๐ฟ๐ถ๐๐ฒ
Special Drawing Rights (SDRs), an international reserve asset created by the International Monetary Fund (IMF), increased by $52 million to $18.610 billion during the week.
India's reserve position with the IMF also edged up by $1 million to $4.791 billion, according to the RBI data.
The latest weekly increase brought some recovery in India's foreign exchange reserves, although the total remained approximately $66.16 billion below the record high registered in September.