The country's foreign exchange reserves grew by $31.5 billion in the first nine months

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of this fiscal, but credit for two out of every three of these dollars go to the rupee appreciation.

The Indian currency's sharp appreciation against dollar — an eyesore for the export sector that has been the main contributor to forex reserves traditionally — contributed USD 20.3 billion or 64.4 per cent to the total accretion in forex reserves till December 2009 in the current fiscal.

The total foreign exchange reserves increased by USD 31.5 billion in 2009-10 fiscal, from USD 252 billion at the end of March 2009 to USD 283.5 billion in December 2009, according to the Economic Survey presented in Parliament today.

The pre-budget document on the country's economic health added that the actual accretion in forex reserves was, however, only USD 11.2 billion (35.6 per cent of the total increase of USD 31.5 billion), which was mainly due to rise in FDI inflows and investments from foreign institutional investors.

"... Accretion of USD 20.3 billion (64.4 per cent) was on account of valuation gain due to weakness of the US dollar against major currencies," the Survey said.

Rupee has been appreciating against the US dollar in the current fiscal, largely due to signs of economic recovery and revival in FII inflows after March 2009.