Mumbai, May 25 : India's foreign exchange (forex) reserves decreased by $1.72 billion to $291.96 billion for the week ended May 17, according to data released by the Reserve Bank of India.

The reserves had fallen by $616.4 million to $293.69 billion for the week ended May 10. The foreign currency assets (FCA) - the biggest component of the forex reserves - fell by $1.68 billion at $261.47 billion, the weekly statistical supplement of the central bank shows.

The FCA had fallen by $568.1 billion at $263.16 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 $23.97 billion, the reserves had dipped heavily by 1.71 billion at $23.97 billion in the week ended May 3, 2013.

However, the special drawing rights (SDRs) decreased by $24 million to $4.30 billion during the week under review while reserves with the International Monetary Fund went down by $12.6 million to $2.21 billion.

The SDRs had fallen by $31.9 million to $4.32 billion during the previous week, while reserves with the IMF went down by $16.4 million to $2.22 billion. (IANS)