India’s foreign exchange reserves rose by $4.747 billion in the week that ended August 8 to $693.618 billion, driven by gains in both foreign currency assets and gold holdings, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) said in its latest ‘Weekly Statistical Supplement’.
In the preceding week, India’s foreign exchange reserves reported a sharp decline, slipping $9.32 billion. Still, the forex kitty is hovering close to its all-time high of $704.89 billion touched in September 2024. After the latest monetary policy review meeting, RBI Governor Sanjay Malhotra said the foreign exchange kitty was sufficient to meet 11 months of the country’s imports.
The latest RBI data showed that India’s foreign currency assets (FCA), the largest component of foreign exchange reserves, stood at $583.979 billion. According to RBI data, the gold reserves currently amount to $86.160 billion.In 2023, India added around $58 billion to its foreign exchange reserves, contrasting with a cumulative decline of $71 billion in 2022. In 2024, the reserves rose by a little over $20 billion. So far in 2025, the forex kitty has cumulatively jumped by about $53 billion, data showed.
Foreign exchange reserves, or FX reserves, are assets held by a nation’s central bank or monetary authority, primarily in reserve currencies such as the US Dollar, with smaller portions in the Euro, Japanese Yen, and Pound Sterling. The RBI often intervenes by managing liquidity, including selling dollars, to prevent steep Rupee depreciation. The RBI strategically buys dollars when the Rupee is strong and sells when it weakens.
Published on August 17, 2025
