Mumbai:India’s forex reserves jumped USD 7.26 billion to USD 674.193 billion during the week ended July 3, the Reserve Bank of India said on Friday.

In the previous reporting week, the forex kitty had dropped by USD 5.654 billion to USD 666.933 billion.

The kitty had expanded to an all-time high of USD 728.494 billion during the week ended February 27 this year before the onset of the Middle East conflict, which led to several weeks of a drop as the rupee came under pressure and the RBI had to intervene in the forex market through dollar sales.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi has also made multiple public appeals starting May 11 to countrymen to conserve forex by cutting down on foreign travel, limiting fuel use and refraining from gold buys for a year.

For the week ended July 3, foreign currency assets, a major component of the reserves, increased USD 4.51 billion to USD 545.578 billion, the central bank’s data showed. Expressed in dollar terms, the foreign currency assets include effects of appreciation or depreciation of non-US units, such as the euro, pound, and yen, held in the foreign exchange reserves.