Mumbai: Continuing its downward trend for the fifth consecutive week, the foreign exchange reserves plunged USD 2.754 billion to USD 311.427 billion in the week to October 3, led by a major fall in non-US currency assets, according to data released by the RBI Friday.
In the week to September 26, reserves went down by USD 1.415 billion to USD 314.181 billion. In the week to July 25, 2014, the reserves had touched USD 320.56 billion, just short of the life-time high of USD 320.79 billion on Setpember 2, 2011.
In the reporting week, foreign currency assets, a major constituent of overall reserves, decreased USD 1.803 billion to USD 285.588 billion, RBI said.
Foreign currency assets, expressed in dollar terms, include the effect of appreciation and depreciation of non-US currencies such as the euro, pound and yen held in reserves.
After remaining unchanged for a couple of weeks, the country's gold reserves dropped by USD 919.7 million to USD 20.013 billion.
Special Drawing Rights (SDRs) were down USD 22.8 million to USD 4.284 billion, while the country's reserve position with the IMF dipped by USD 8.2 million to USD 1.540 billion during the week, the RBI data showed.
