Mumbai, Oct 16 (IANS): India's foreign exchange reserves rose by $749 million to $312.23 billion for the week ended Oct 7, rising for the first time in three weeks due to gains in foreign currency assets, official data showed.

The forex reserves had slumped by $5.27 billion in the previous two reporting weeks.

Foreign currency assets, the biggest component of the forex reserves kitty, rose by $763 million to $276.46 billion for the week ended Oct 7, according to the weekly statistical supplement of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), the country's central bank.

The RBI does not provide any reason for the change in the foreign currency assets but says the assets expressed in US dollar terms include the effect of appreciation or depreciation of non-US currencies such as the pound sterling, euro and yen held in reserves.

Foreign currency assets had dropped by $1.23 billion in the previous week.

Reserves with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) dropped by $5 million to $2.60 billion.

And the value of special drawing rights (SDRs) fell by $9 million to $4.49 billion during the week under review.

However, the value of gold reserves remained unchanged at $28.66 billion.