Mumbai, July 20 : India's foreign exchange (forex) reserves increased by $21.1 million to $280.188 billion for the week ended July 12, according to data released by the Reserve Bank of India.

The reserves had declined by $4.47 billion to $280.167 billion for the week ended July 5.

The foreign currency assets (FCA) - the biggest component of the forex reserves - grew by $33.5 million at $252.13 billion, the weekly statistical supplement of the central bank shows.

The FCA had plunged by $1.28 billion at $252.10 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 remained stagnant at $21.55 billion. The gold reserves had plunged by 1.28 billion in the week ended July 5.

The special drawing rights (SDRs) rose by $6.7 million to $4.33 billion during the week under review, while reserves with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) went down by $19.1 million to $2.16 billion.

The SDRs had dropped by $14.6 million to $4.32 billion during the previous week, while reserves with the IMF went down by $7.4 million to $2.18 billion.(IANS)