India's Forex Reserves Slip By $3 Billion To $699.74 Billion

India's foreign exchange reserves fell to $699.74 billion for the week that ended on July 4. The country's forex kitty lost $3.049 billion over the previous reporting week, according to data from the Reserve Bank of India on Friday.

In the previous reporting week, reserves had risen by $4.849 billion to $702.78 billion, nearing a year's high.

The RBI's forex holdings had steadily recovered in the first six months of this calendar year, but the numbers have slumped in the last week.

Foreign investors have pulled out $6 billion from the country's debt and equity markets so far this year, according to data from the National Securities Depository Ltd.

For the week ended July 4, foreign currency assets—a major component of the reserves— declined $3.53 billion to $591.28 billion, according to the RBI data. In dollar terms, foreign currency assets include the effect of the appreciation or depreciation of non-US units like the euro, pound and yen held in foreign exchange reserves.

Gold reserves increased by $0.3 billion to $84.84 billion during the week.

India ranks as the fourth-largest holder of foreign exchange reserves, sufficient to cover nearly a year of imports. The country's forex holdings are the fourth largest, after China, Japan and Switzerland.