Foreign reserves fall $504 m, money supply grows by 20%

The country?s foreign exchange reserves fell $504 million to $306.6 billion in the week ended July 25.

Foreign-currency assets declined by $502 million to $296.9 billion during the week, said the Reserve Bank of India in its statistical weekly supplement in Mumbai.

Gold reserves were unchanged at $9.21 billion while reserves with the International Monetary Fund fell $2 million to $515 million. The nation?s special drawing rights with the International Monetary Fund held at $11 million.

The change in foreign currency assets is partly because of changes in the value of the dollar against the euro, the yen and other currencies during the period, the central bank said.

India?s foreign exchange reserves, including overseas currencies, gold and special drawing rights with the International Monetary Fund, have increased $81.3 billion in the past year, the RBI said.

Meanwhile, banks loans fell by Rs 720 crore in the two weeks ended July 18, taking outstanding advances to Rs 24,07,860 crore.

Credit rose by 25.8%, or by Rs 4, 93,805 crore, in the 12 months through July 18. Total bank deposits rose by 21%, or Rs 5, 72,859 crore.

At the same time, money supply in India grew 20% in the two weeks ended July 18 from a year earlier, compared with 20.5% in the prior two weeks, the central bank said.