Mumbai, Aug 10 (IANS): India's foreign exchange (forex) reserves decreased by $2.99 billion to $277.16 billion for the week ended Aug 2, according to data released by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI).

The reserves had increased by $960.2 million to $280.16 billion for the week ended July 26.

The foreign currency assets (FCA) - the biggest component of the forex reserves - fell by $2.15 billion at $249.89 billion, the weekly statistical supplement of the central bank shows.

The FCA had grown by $914.1 million at $252.05 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 which had remained stagnant at $21.55 billion after a plunge of $1.28 billion in the week ended July 5, further fell by $808.5 million and stood at $20.74 billion in the week under review.

The special drawing rights (SDRs) declined by $21.4 million to $4.35 billion during the week ended Aug 2, 2013, while reserves with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) went down by $10.7 million to $2.17 billion.

The SDRs had increased by $30.8 million to $4.37 billion during the previous week, while reserves with the IMF were up by $15.3 million to $2.18 billion.