Mumbai, Jan 5 (IANS): India's foreign exchange (forex) reserves increased by $39.6 million to $296.57 billion for the week ended Dec 28, 2012, data released by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) showed.

The reserves had gone down by $92.8 million to $296.53 billion for the week ended Dec 21, 2012.

The foreign currency assets (FCA) - the biggest component of the forex reserves - went up by $63.9 million at $262.01 billion, according to the weekly statistical supplement released by the RBI.

The FCA decreased by $169.9 million at $261.94 billion in the previous week.

The central bank said FCA in US dollar terms included the effect of appreciation or depreciation of non-US currencies held in reserve, such as the pound sterling, euro and yen.

Gold reserves value remained the same at $27.80 billion. The value had dipped by $386.2 million in the week ended Nov 30. The value had remained unchanged at $28.18 billion since the week ended Nov 2, when the value of gold reserves rose by $56.4 million.

However, the special drawing rights (SDRs) decreased by $15.9 million to $4.43 billion during the week under review, while reserves with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) went down by $8.4 million to $2.32 billion.

The SDRs had increased by $15.8 million to $4.45 billion during the week ended Dec 21 while reserves with the IM