India’s forex reserves drop $4.5 billion, still hovers around record high

NEW DELHI: India’s foreign exchange reserves declined by USD 4.472 billion in the week that ended November 21 to USD 688.104 billion, driven by a slump in both foreign currency assets and gold reserves, the Reserve Bank of India’s latest ‘Weekly Statistical Supplement’ data showed.

Over the past few weeks, the forex kitty has been largely in a downtrend, except for a few.

Still, the country’s foreign exchange (forex) kitty is hovering close to its all-time high of USD 704.89 billion, reached in September 2024.

For the reported week (that ended November 21), India’s foreign currency assets (FCA), the largest component of foreign exchange reserves, stood at USD 560.600 billion, down USD 1.690 billion.

The RBI data showed that gold reserves currently stand at USD 104.182 billion, down USD 2.675 billion from the previous week.

The price of the safe-haven asset gold has been on a sharp uptrend over recent months, perhaps amid heightened global uncertainties and robust investment demand.

After the latest monetary policy review meeting, RBI had said that the country’s foreign exchange reserves were sufficient to cover more than 11 months of merchandise imports.

Overall, India’s external sector continues to be resilient, and the RBI remains confident of meeting its external obligations comfortably.

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.

So far in 2025, the forex kitty has cumulatively increased by about USD 48 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 depreciation of the rupee. The RBI strategically buys dollars when the Rupee is strong and sells when it weakens.

The Indian rupee, which has been under pressure for a host of reasons, is unlikely to depreciate further in the near term, Union Bank of India said in a report this week, citing that the rupee has already weakened by roughly 4 per cent this year. The currency has weakened 4 per cent since the start of 2025, touching a record low near 89.4950 recently. (ANI)