NEW DELHI, Oct. 25 (Xinhua) -- India's foreign exchange (forex) reserves rose by 4.496 billion U.S. dollars to 702.28 billion dollars during the week ending Oct. 17, mainly driven by a significant increase in the value of gold reserves, according to the latest data released by the country's central bank, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI).

This was the first occasion when India's forex reserves rose after declining for four consecutive weeks.

According to the data, the foreign currency assets (FCAs), which form the largest part of the forex reserves, fell by 1.692 billion dollars to 570.411 billion dollars.

The gold reserves rose significantly by 6.181 billion dollars to 108.546 billion dollars during the week. The Special Drawing Rights (SDRs) also saw an increase of 38 million dollars to 18.722 billion dollars.

Meanwhile, India's reserve position in the International Monetary Fund (IMF) fell by 30 million dollars to 4.602 billion dollars, revealed the RBI data. ■