India’s forex reserves declined by $ 5.654 billion to $ 666.933 billion on June 26, the Reserve Bank said on Friday.According to the RBI, the value of gold reserves declined by $ 5.394 billion to $ 102.536 billion during the week, while special drawing rights (SDRs) also fell by $ 89 million to $ 18.558 billion.Additionally, foreign currency assets, which form a major component of the reserves, experienced a fall of $150 million to $ 541.067 billion.Meanwhile, PTI reported India’s reserve position with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to decline by $ 21 million during the week, to USD 4.772 billion.The reserves had hit their all-time high of $ 728.494 billion on February 27, just before the US and Israel conducted airstrikes on Iran. The reserves then gradually declined due to the conflict, as the RBI scrambled its dollars to manage the stalling rupee.To manage the crisis, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had made several appeals to the public on May 11, urging them to refrain from buying gold for a year, cut down on foreign travel, and limit the usage of fuel.However, in the previous reporting week, the reserves had jumped $ 963 million to $ 672.587 billion, eventually falling again.Foreign currency assets, which form the largest component of India’s forex reserves, are reported in US dollar terms. Their value is influenced not only by changes in the holdings themselves but also by fluctuations in the exchange rates of other reserve currencies, such as the euro, pound sterling and Japanese yen, against the US dollar.
