India’s forex reserves stood at $691.5 billion, says RBI chief

India’s foreign exchange (forex) reserves stood at $691.5 billion, as of May 30, and are sufficient to fund more than 11 months of goods imports and about 96 per cent of external debt outstanding, RBI Governor Sanjay Malhotra said on Friday.

For the week ended May 30, the reserves dropped by $1.2 billion to break an 8-week rising trend. India’s foreign exchange reserves had recorded a robust increase of $6.99 billion to $692.72 billion in the preceding week ended May 23.

Changes in foreign currency assets, expressed in dollar terms, include the effect of appreciation or depreciation of other currencies held in the reserves. External commercial borrowings (ECBs) and non-resident deposits have seen higher net inflows compared to the previous year.

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) Governor said: “Overall, India’s external sector remains resilient as key external sector vulnerability indicators continue to improve. We remain confident of meeting our external financing requirements.”

The latest RBI data showed that India’s foreign currency assets (FCA), the largest component of foreign exchange reserves, stood at $586.167 billion. The RBI releases forex data every Friday.

According to RBI data, India’s forex reserves are still quite close to its all-time high of $704.89 billion, reached in September 2024. In 2024, the reserves rose by a little over $20 billion.

Central banks worldwide are increasingly accumulating gold as a safe-haven asset in their foreign exchange reserves amid uncertainty created by geopolitical tensions.

Indo-Asian News Service