Mumbai: According to data released by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), India’s foreign exchange reserves increased for the eighth consecutive week, reaching USD 688.129 billion as of the week ending April 25. This marks a rise of USD 1.983 billion from the previous week.
Despite the consistent gains, the current reserves are still below the all-time high of USD 704.89 billion, recorded in September last year.
The increase was primarily due to a USD 2.168 billion rise in Foreign Currency Assets (FCA), which make up the largest portion of the reserves. FCAs include assets like the euro, pound, and yen, valued in US dollars.
Decline in Gold Reserves
RBI's gold reserves saw a decline of USD 207 million, bringing the total to USD 84.365 billion. Meanwhile, Special Drawing Rights (SDRs) with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) rose by USD 21 million, reaching USD18.589 billion.
For the week ending April 18, reserves had seen a significant rise of USD 8.310 billion. In 2023, India added about $58 billion to its forex reserves, recovering from a USD 71 billion drop in 2022. So far in 2024, reserves have grown by over USD 20 billion.
As per RBI estimates, India’s current reserves are sufficient to cover 10 to 12 months of import needs. The central bank uses its reserves to stabilise the rupee by buying or selling dollars depending on market fluctuations.
