India's forex reserves decline sharply by $9.3 billion to $689 billion

The latest RBI data showed that India's foreign currency assets (FCA), the largest component of foreign exchange reserves, stood at $581.607 billion.

India's foreign exchange reserves (forex) reported a sharp decline, slipping $9.32 billion to $688.871 billion in the week ending August 1, official data released by the Reserve Bank of India showed.

At the latest monetary policy meeting, RBI Governor Sanjay Malhotra said the foreign exchange kitty was sufficient to meet 11 months of the country's imports.

Despite this weekly dip, the forex kitty is close to its all-time high of $704.89 billion touched in September 2024.

The latest RBI data showed that India's foreign currency assets (FCA), the largest component of foreign exchange reserves, stood at $581.607 billion.

According to RBI data, the gold reserves currently amount to $83.998 billion, with a $1.706 billion decline.

Central banks worldwide had been increasingly accumulating safe-haven gold in their foreign exchange reserves kitty, and India was 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 $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 $49 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.