India’s forex reserves provide 95% cover for outstanding external debt: RBI Bulletin

For the week ending on July 11, foreign currency assets, a major component of the reserves, fell by $2.48 billion to $588.81 billion

India’s foreign exchange reserves provide a 95 percent cover for external debt outstanding at the end March 2025, according to the Reserve Bank of India’s (RBI) July bulletin.

It also added that the current forex reserves also provide for more than 11 months of goods imports cover.

“The external sector remained resilient, backed by ample foreign exchange reserves and a moderate external debt-to-GDP ratio,” RBI bulletin said.

As per RBI’s data, India’s foreign exchange reserves fell $3.06 billion to US$696.7 billion for the week ending July 11.

For the week ending on July 11, foreign currency assets, a major component of the reserves, fell by $2.48 billion to $588.81 billion. Expressed in dollar terms, the foreign currency assets include the effect of appreciation or depreciation of non-US units like the euro, pound and yen held in the foreign exchange reserves.

Gold reserves were down by $498 million to stand at $84.35 billion during the week, and special drawing rights (SDR) decreased $66 million to $18.8 billion, the central bank said.

Meanwhile, RBI made net purchases of $1.76 billion in the spot foreign exchange market in May 2025, as per its July bulletin. This comes after it remained the net seller of $1.66 billion in April.
According to the bulletin, the RBI gross purchased $9.12 billion and sold $7.36 billion in the spot market in May.

The Indian Rupee (INR) depreciated by 0.8 per cent (m-o-m) vis-à-vis the US dollar in June, due to the escalation of geopolitical tensions following the Iran-Israel conflict, even as most EME currencies strengthened. Nevertheless, the INR remained among the least volatile major EME currencies, RBI Bulletin said.