Mumbai, Aug 30 (IANS): India's foreign exchange reserves fell by $1.98 billion to $318.57 billion till the week ended Aug 22.

According to Reserve Bank of India (RBI) data, the reserves declined by $810.7 million for the week ended Aug 22, while it was up $43.3 million in the week ended Aug 15, $643 million down in the week ended Aug 8 and $573.5 million in the week ended Aug 1.

The latest data showed that the reserves had declined by $810.7 million to $318.57 billion due to a decline in the currency assets for the week ended Aug 22.

The reserves declined by $643.3 million to $319.34 billion for the week ended Aug 8.

According to the RBI's weekly statistical supplement, foreign currency assets, the biggest component of the forex reserves, declined by $783 million to $291.31 billion for the week under review.

The foreign currency assets had plunged $646.7 million to $292.04 billion for the previous week.

The RBI said that the foreign currency assets, expressed in US dollar terms, include the effect of appreciation or depreciation of non-US currencies held in reserve such as the pound sterling, euro and yen.

India's reserve position with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) slipped by $7.9 million to $1.69 billion.

The value of special drawing rights (SDRs) was down by $19.8 million at $4.39 billion.

However, the value of gold reserves remained static at $21.17 billion. The bullion had increased by $538.9 million at $21.17 billion in the previous week.