India's forex reserves rise $5.57 bn to $629.55 bn

India's forex reserves increased $5.57 billion to $629.56 billion in the week ended January 24, the Reserve Bank said on Friday.

In the previous reporting week, the overall kitty had dropped $1.89 billion to $623.98 billion.

The reserves have been on a declining trend for the last few weeks, and the drop has been attributed to revaluation, along with forex market interventions by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to help reduce volatilities in the rupee.

The forex reserves had increased to an all-time high of $704.88 billion in end-September.

For the week ended January 24, foreign currency assets, a major component of the reserves, increased $4.76 billion to $537.89 billion, as per the RBI data.

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 $704 million to $69.65 billion during the week, the RBI said.

The Special Drawing Rights (SDRs) were up $79 million to $17.861 billion, the apex bank said.

India's reserve position with the IMF was up $33 million to $4.15 billion in the reporting week, the apex bank data showed.