India's foreign exchange reserves fell by USD 2.691 billion to USD 717.056 billion in the week ended October 30, the Reserve Bank of India said. The previous week had seen a decline of USD 1.269 billion to USD 719.748 billion.
The reserves had touched an all-time high of USD 785.706 billion in the week ended September 4, boosted by a special concessional swap for diaspora deposits through which banks raised a record USD 133 billion, and have been declining since. Foreign currency assets, the largest component, fell by USD 2.088 billion to USD 591.118 billion. Gold reserves were down USD 559 million at USD 102.591 billion, Special Drawing Rights fell USD 47 million to USD 18.558 billion, and India's reserve position with the IMF rose USD 3 million to USD 4.79 billion.
Separately, RBI data showed non-banking finance companies' credit to gold jewellery rose 66.1 per cent year-on-year to Rs 3.74 lakh crore in September, while credit to consumer durables rose 54.4 per cent to Rs 77,896 crore. Overall NBFC credit grew 15.4 per cent to Rs 61.69 lakh crore, with retail loans up 21.9 per cent.
(With inputs from PTI and media reports)