India’s foreign exchange reserves fell by $152.40 million on March 16 to $421.334 billion, data from the RBI show. Foreign currency assets (FCAs), which form a key component of reserves, fell by $175.20 million from the previous week to $396.156 billion. FCAs are maintained in major currencies like US dollar, euro, pound sterling and Japanese yen. Movement in the FCA occurs mainly on account of purchase and sale of foreign exchange by the RBI, income arising out of the deployment of foreign exchange reserves, external aid receipts of the government and the revaluation of assets.
Gold reserves rose by $13.2 million to $21.562 billion. Special drawing rights (SDR) from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) rose by $4.1 million from the previous week to $1.538 billion. SDR is an international reserve asset created by the IMF and allocated to its members in proportion to their quota at the IMF. The reserve position in the IMF rose by $5.5 million to $2.077 billion.