MUMBAI: India's forex reserves jumped USD 9.905 billion to USD 716.907 billion during the week ended August 14, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) said on Friday.
In the previous reporting week ended August 7, the overall kitty had jumped USD 14.136 billion to USD 707.002 billion.
Reserves had expanded to an all-time high of USD 728.494 billion during the week ended February 27 this year before the onset of the Middle East conflict that led to several weeks of a drop as the rupee came under pressure and the RBI had to intervene in the forex market through dollar sales.
For the week ended August 14, foreign currency assets, a major component of the reserves, increased USD 7.225 billion to USD 581.851 billion, the central bank's data showed.
Expressed in dollar terms, foreign currency assets include the effects of appreciation or depreciation of non-US units, such as the euro, pound, and yen, held in foreign exchange reserves.
The RBI and the government had launched a series of measures to attract more forex flows into the country last month, including the FCN (B) measure. The country has so far received USD 56.85 billion under the concessional swap measures till August 13.
Value of gold reserves increased USD 2.679 billion to USD 111.417 billion during the week, the central bank said.
The special drawing rights (SDRs) were down USD 5 million at USD 18.74 billion, the apex bank said.
India's reserve position with the IMF was up USD 5 million to USD 4.899 billion at the end of the reporting week, according to the apex bank's data.