India's forex reserves fall for second straight week, stand at $589.14 billion

India's forex reserves dropped by $4.339 billion to $589.138 billion for the week ended May 26, the Reserve Bank said on Friday. This is another fall in the second consecutive week.

In the previous reporting week, the reserves had declined by $6.052 billion to $593.477 billion.

It can be noted that in October 2021, the country's forex kitty had reached an all-time high of $645 billion. The reserves have been declining as the central bank deploys the kitty to defend the rupee amid pressures caused majorly by global developments.

For the week ended May 26, the foreign currency assets, a major component of the reserves, declined by $4.014 billion to $520.931 billion, according to the Weekly Statistical Supplement released by the RBI on Friday.

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 dropped by $225 million to $44.902 billion, the RBI said.