The country's forex reserves declined for the second consecutive week as foreign institutional investors turned net sellers in the equity markets.
For the week ended January 29, forex reserves fell by $1.983 billion to $280.955 billion, according to the Reserve Bank of India's Weekly Statistical Supplement.
In the earlier week, forex reserves had declined by $2.223 billion to $282.938 billion.
According to a forex dealer with a private bank, FIIs have been net sellers for some time now. According to the BSE data, FIIs were net sellers of equity worth Rs 7,216 crore in January.
Currency revaluation is another a reason for the decline in reserves, the dealer said. In the week under consideration, foreign currency assets fell by $1.718 billion to $256.362 billion. Foreign currency assets expressed in US dollar terms include the effect of appreciation or depreciation of non-US currencies such as the euro, the sterling, the yen held in reserves.
Gold fell by $236 million to $18.056 billion.
SDRs fell by $23 million to $5.124 billion. The country's reserve position in the IMF fell by $6 million to $1.413 billion.
Source : Business Line