Besides, foreign investors have pulled out over $6.6 billion from the country’s debt and equity markets so far this year, according to data from the National Securities Depository Ltd.
For the week ended May 23, foreign currency assets—a major component of the reserves—rose $4.5 billion to $586 billion, according to the RBI data. In dollar terms, foreign currency assets include the effect of the appreciation or depreciation of non-US units like the euro, pound and yen held in foreign exchange reserves.
Gold reserves declined $2.4 billion to $83.5 billion during the week.
India ranks as the fourth-largest holder of foreign exchange reserves, sufficient to cover nearly a year of imports. The country’s forex holdings are the fourth largest, after China, Japan and Switzerland.
Reserves have steadily recovered after a steep fall from their peak of $700 billion at the end of September.
