Forex kitty swells by $ 7 bn to hit record high of $ 681.69 bn

India's forex reserves jumped by $7.02 billion to touch a new high of $681.69 billion in the week ended August 23, the RBI said on Friday.

The overall reserves had jumped by $4.55 billion to $674.66 billion in the previous reporting week.

The previous all-time high for the overall reserves was recorded at $674.92 billion as on August 2.

For the week ended August 23, foreign currency assets, a major component of the reserves, increased by $5.98 billion to $597.55 billion, the data released on Friday showed.

Expressed in dollar terms, the foreign currency assets include the effect of appreciation or depreciation of non-US units like the euro, pound and yen held in the foreign exchange reserves.

Gold reserves increased by $893 million to $61 billion during the week, the RBI said.

The Special Drawing Rights (SDRs) were up by $118 million to $18.459 billion, the apex bank said.

India's reserve position with the IMF was up by $30 million to $4.68 billion in the reporting week, the apex bank data showed.