India's forex reserves jump about $7 billion in week ending May 23

Estimates suggest that India's foreign exchange reserves sufficiently cover approximately 10-12 months of projected imports.

With this weekly jump, the forex kitty is quite close to its all-time high of USD 704.89 billion, reached in September 2024.

The latest RBI data showed that India's foreign currency assets (FCA), the largest component of foreign exchange reserves, stood at USD 586.167 billion.

The gold reserves currently amount to USD 83.582 billion, according to RBI data.

Central banks worldwide are increasingly accumulating safe-haven gold in their foreign exchange reserves kitty, and India is no exception. The share of gold maintained by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) in its foreign exchange reserves has almost doubled since 2021.

In 2023, India added around USD 58 billion to its foreign exchange reserves, contrasting with a cumulative decline of USD 71 billion in 2022.

In 2024, the reserves rose by a little over USD 20 billion.

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. (ANI)