Forex reserves fall $2.9 billion

Forex reserves declined by $2.938 billion to close at $273.3 billion for the week ended May 14, according to the Reserve Bank of India's weekly statistical supplement.

This is the second week in a row that forex reserves have fallen. In the earlier week, forex reserves had fallen by $3.395 billion to $276.238 billion.

While currency revaluation could be one of the reasons for the fall, it could also be partly on account of the RBI selling dollars directly to oil companies in order to ease the pressure on the rupee, said a forex dealer with a private bank.

In the week under consideration the foreign currency assets fell by $2.876 billion to $248.597 billion. Foreign currency assets expressed in dollar terms include the effect of appreciation or depreciation of non-US currencies.

Gold was unchanged at $18.537 billion. SDRs fell by $49 million to $4.858 billion. The reserve position in the IMF fell by $13 million to $1.308 million.