New Delhi: In a historic milestone of sorts for the Indian economy, the nation's foreign exchange reserves surged past the half-a-trillion mark for the very first time with a whopping USD 8.22 billion jumps in the week ended June 5 on back of higher forex inflows, as per data released by Reserve Bank of India.

As per RBI’s weekly statistical supplement, forex reserves increased to USD 501.70 billion from USD 493.48 reported last week helped by an impressive increase in Foreign Currency Assets (FCA). This amount is forex equivalent to one year’s worth of imports.

India’s foreign reserves consist of foreign currency assets (FCAs), special drawing rights (SDRs), gold reserves, and the country’s reserve position with the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

In the week ended June 5, FCA, which is a significant component of the overall reserves, rose USD 8.42 billion to USD 463.63 billion. On the contrary, gold reserves in the same period decreased by USD 329 million to USD 32.352 billion. Meanwhile, the value of special drawing rights increased by $10 million to $1.442 billion. At the same time, the country's reserve position with the IMF increased by $120 million to $ 4.278 billion.

The value of the FCA assets, which are expressed in dollar terms, is also affected by fluctuation in prices of non-dollar foreign currencies such as Euro, Pound, and yen as part of overall reserves.

Principal Economic Advisor Sanjeev Sanjay said, “India's foreign exchange reserves hit USD 501.7 billion. As I have been saying in recent weeks, demand suppression…would push the INR to appreciate after an initial capital outflow."