India’s forex reserves down $1.03 bn at $353.32 bn

India's foreign exchange reserves dipped $1.03 billion to $353.32 billion in the week ending 17 July owing to currency fluctuations and international financial instability, data released by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) showed.

Foreign currency assets (FCAs), the largest component of the reserves, were down 982.1 million at $328.93 billion for the week ended 17 July, the RBI said in its weekly statistical supplement.

The dip in foreign reserves is also being attributed to the debt crisis in Greece and the crash of Chinese shares.

Gold reserves were stagnant at $19.07 billion.

Special Drawing Rights (SDRs) went down by $39.6 million to $4.01 billion.

India's reserve position with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) fell by $12.8 million to $1.30 billion.

India, meanwhile, increased its exposure to US government securities by $31 billion in the first five months of the year, taking the overall holdings to $114 billion in May.

This is also the highest level of holding by India in more than a year.

China continues to have the maximum exposure to US government securities with May holdings touching $1.27 trillion.