With yet another record inflows of over $1 billion during the week ended December 12, 2003, India's foreign exchange reserves neared the $100 billion mark.

For the third time within a month, the country witnessed further accretion of over $1.4 billion, mainly due to inflows and dollar revaluation, to take the foreign exchange reserves past $98.9 billion.

The forex reserves witnessed total inflows of over $24 billion since March 28, 2003.

For the period under review, the country's reserves grew by $1.439 billion taking the total to $98.959 billion, just over $1 billion short of the coveted figure, the Reserve Bank of India said on Saturday.

The foreign currency assets during the reporting period also rose by $1.439 billion at $94.918 billion, RBI's weekly statistical supplement said.

The central bank said gold reserves and special drawing rights remained unchanged at $4.038 billion at $3 million, respectively.

The reserve tranche position with the International Monetary Policy increased by $9 million at $1.233 billion.

The RTP may change, from time to time, due to India's transactions under financial transaction plan with the IMF.

RBI said loans and advances for central government maintained their nil balance while that for state governments grew by Rs 174 crore (Rs 1.74 billion) to Rs 6,392 crore (Rs 63.92 billion).