As on September end, of the total FCA of $579.18 billion, $489.54 billion was invested in securities, $46.11 billion was deposited with other central banks and the Bank of International Settlements (BIS), and the balance $43.53 billion comprised deposits with commercial banks overseas
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India’s forex reserves increased by $31.76 billion between April-September to $700.09 billion, while the share of gold in the overall forex reserves rose to 14 per cent from 12 per cent in the same period, according to the Reserve Bank of India’s (RBI) half yearly forex reserves report.
Although both US dollar and euro are intervention currencies and the Foreign Currency Assets (FCA) are maintained in major currencies, the foreign exchange reserves are denominated and expressed in US dollar terms. Movements in the FCA occur mainly on account of purchase and sale of foreign exchange by the RBI, income arising out of the deployment of the foreign exchange reserves, external aid receipts of the Central government and changes on account of revaluation of the assets.
“At the end of June 2025, foreign exchange reserves cover of imports (on balance of payments basis) stood at 11.4 months (11.0 months at end-March 2025). The ratio of short-term debt (original maturity) to reserves, which was 20.1 per cent at end-March 2025, decreased to 19.4 per cent at end-June 2025. The ratio of volatile capital flows (including cumulative portfolio inflows and outstanding short-term debt) to reserves also fell from 69.0 per cent at end-March 2025 to 66.6 per cent at end-June 2025,” the report said.
As on September end, of the total FCA of $579.18 billion, $489.54 billion was invested in securities, $46.11 billion was deposited with other central banks and the Bank of International Settlements (BIS), and the balance $43.53 billion comprised deposits with commercial banks overseas.
The RBI held 880.18 metric tonnes of gold as on September 2025, of which, 575.82 metric tonnes were held domestically. 290.37 metric tonnes of gold were kept in safe custody with the Bank of England (BoE) and the BIS, while 13.99 metric tonnes were held in the form of gold deposits.
“On a balance of payments basis (excluding valuation effects), foreign exchange reserves increased by $4.5 billion during April-June 2025 compared to an accretion of $5.2 billion during April-June 2024. Foreign exchange reserves in nominal terms (including valuation effects) increased by $29.8 billion during April-June 2025 as against an increase of $5.6 billion in the corresponding period of the preceding year,” said the RBI.
Published on October 28, 2025
