India's forex reserves down $249 million at $249 billion

Foreign exchange reserves of the country declined by $249 million to $249.278 billion during the week ended 27 February as compared to $249.527 billion in the previous week.

Foreign currency assets fell to $238.715 billion, down $1.106 billion as against $239.821-billion during the previous week, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) said in its weekly report.

Foreign currency assets, expressed in US dollar terms, include the effect of appreciation or depreciation of non-US currencies such as the Euro, Sterling and Yen, RBI said.

Gold reserves with the RBI increased by $862-million to $9.746 billion compared to $8.884 billion in the previous week, RBI said.

Holdings of Special Drawing Rights (SDRs) remained unchanged at $1 million during the week. The country's reserve position with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) slumped to $816 million from $821-million in the week ago, RBI said.