Mumbai, Jun 23 (IANS): India's foreign exchange reserves (forex) grew by $2 billion to $289.39 billion for the week ended June 15, official data showed.

The forex recovered in the week ended June 8 when it grew by $1.52 billion to $287.37 billion after falling for five straight weeks.

The reserves had plunged by $2.40 billion to $285.85 billion for the week ended June 1, apparently due to the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) selling dollars to defend the rupee.

The reserves had also declined by $1.74 billion and $1.80 billion respectively in the previous two weeks of June 1.

The RBI was believed to have been selling dollars during these weeks to curb the slide in the rupee's value which incidentally hit a new low Friday at Rs.57.12 against $1.

Earlier, the partially convertible rupee slumped to a record low of 56.52 against the US dollar on May 31.

It has weakened sharply in the last two months due to increased demands from oil importers and outflow of money by the foreign institutional investors (FIIs), as poor gross domestic product (GDP) growth data dampened sentiment in the Indian markets.

Foreign currency assets, the biggest component of the forex reserves kitty for the week ended June 15, grew by $1.93 billion to $256.52 billion, according to the RBI's weekly statistical supplement.

The RBI did not provide any reasons for the rise in the foreign currency assets.

It said the assets expressed in US dollar terms included the effect of appreciation or depreciation of non-US currencies such as the pound sterling, euro and yen held in reserve.

The value of gold reserves remained the same during the week under review at $25.58 billion. The value had declined in the week ended June 1 by $1.03 billion to $25.58 billion.

The value of special drawing rights (SDRs) grew by $25.7 million to $4.38 billion and India's reserves with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) increased by $58.3 million to $2.89 billion.