India's forex reserves up $2.25 bln to $300 bln as on Nov 5

India's foreign exchange reserves were up $2.25 billion to $300.21 billion as on November 5, 2010, from $297.96 billion in the previous week, according to the weekly statistical supplement of the Reserve Bank of India on Friday.

The forex reserves exceeded $300-billion, which was led by foreign fund flows in capital markets alone in this fiscal.

Foreign currency assets, a major component of forex reserves, grew 2.19 billion to $271.28 billion in the week as compared $269.09 billion to the previous week, the data showed.

Foreign currency assets excludes $250 million invested in foreign currency denominated bonds issued by IIFC. Foreign currency assets expressed in US dollar terms include the effect of appreciation or depreciation of non-US currencies held in reserves, such as Euro, Sterling, and Yen.

The gold reserves were unchanged at $21.668 billion, while the country's special drawing rights (SDR) moved up marginally $43 million to $5.22 billion. The SDR includes $4,883 million allocated under general allocation and SDR $340 million allocated under special allocation by IMF done on August 28, 2009 and September 9, 2009, respectively.

The gold reserves include $6.699 billion reflecting the purchase of 200 metric tonnes of gold from IMF on November 3, 2009.

The reserve position in the International Monetary Fund also moved up $22 million to $2.035 billion from 2.013 billion, the RBI said.