India’s foreign exchange reserves fell by USD 9.322 billion to USD 688.871 billion in the week ended August 1 marking one of the sharpest declines in recent times RBI data showed on Friday. This follows a USD 2.703 billion increase in the reserves to USD 698.192 billion in the previous week. India Forex Reserves Drop USD 9.32 Billion For the week ended August 1 foreign currency assets a major component of the reserves decreased by USD 7.319 billion to USD 581.607 billion according to the data. 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. The gold reserves decreased by USD 1.706 billion to USD 83.998 billion during the week the RBI said. The Special Drawing Rights (SDRs) were down by USD 237 million to USD 18.572 billion the apex bank said. Indias reserve position with the IMF was also down by USD 59 million at USD 4.694 billion in the reporting week the apex bank data showed. How Are Central Banks Managing Forex? Central banks worldwide are increasingly accumulating safe-haven gold in their foreign exchange reserves kitty and India is no exception. The share of gold maintained by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) in its foreign exchange reserves has almost doubled since 2021 till recently. In 2023 India added around USD 58 billion to its foreign exchange reserves contrasting with a cumulative decline of USD 71 billion in 2022. In 2024 the reserves rose by a little over USD 20 billion touching an all-time high of USD 704.885 billion at the end of September 2024. Indias foreign exchange reserves (Forex) are sufficient to meet 11 months of the countrys imports and about 96 per cent of external debt as already announced by Governor Sanjay Malhotra. (With Input From Agencies)