India’s Foreign Exchange Reserves Fall To Almost 5 Months Low To $584.74 Billion

India's foreign exchange reserves dipped for the fifth consecutive week by $2.166 billion to $584.742 billion for the week ended October 6, the latest data by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) showed on Friday. India's forex kitty slumped by $3.794 billion to $586.908 billion in the earlier week for the week ended September 29.

India's Forex reserves took a hit when the Indian central bank deployed the kitty to defend the domestic unit Indian rupee amid pressures caused mostly by global events taking place since last year.

According to the RBI's Weekly Statistical Supplement, Foreign currency assets (FCAs) fell by $707 million to $519.53 billion. Denoted in dollar terms, the FCAs include the effect of appreciation or depreciation of non-US units like the euro, pound, and yen held in the foreign exchange reserves.

Gold reserves plummeted $1.425 billion to $42.306 billion, said the RBI. The Special Drawing Rights (SDRs) were down by $15 million to $17.923 billion, the RBI added.

Foreign exchange reserves include India's Reserve Tranche position in the International Monetary Fund (IMF). India's reserve position with the IMF reached $4.983 Billion, down $19 million in the reporting week, the central bank data showed.

For the week the forex reserves data pertains, the Indian rupee slipped 0.1% against the dollar and traded in between 83.1650 to 83.2650. The rupee closed at 83.2625 against the US Dollar on Friday.