Kolkata: India’s foreign exchange reserve has depleted by another $10.288 billion in the week to March 27 as the Reserve Bank of India is said to be using its dollar stockpile to reduce volatility of the local currency, which is the worst performing this year among Asian peers.
The reserves fell to $688.058 billion, the central bank said Friday. Another $11.413 billion was wiped out from the stock in the preceding week.
There has been a steady depletion in the reserves ever since the West Asia war broke out. Just before the beginning of the war, the reserves had reached its all-time peak of $728.49 billion as on February 27.
Foreign currency assets, a major component of reserves, fell by $6.622 billion in the week under review to $551.072 billion. Reserves held in gold decreased by $3.666 billion to $113.521 billion.
The latest reserves include $18.649 billion of special drawing rights and $4.816 billion of India’s subscription held with the International Monetary Fund.