RBI rebuilds forex war chest, hits $645.6 billion high

MUMBAI: The country’s foreign exchange reserves logged a record high of $645.6 billion after rising by nearly $3 billion in the week ended March 29. RBI governor Shaktikanta Das said, “It is our focus to build a strong umbrella – a strong buffer in the form of a substantial quantum of forex reserves – which will help us when the cycle turns.” He added that the central bank was also continuously buying gold as part of the deployment of forex reserves.
“Latest data on various external vulnerability indicators suggest improved resilience of India’s external sector. We remain confident of comfortably meeting our external financing requirements,” Das said in his monetary policy statement.

Das said there were concerns when the reserves dipped to $524 billion in the forex market volatility that followed the Ukraine invasion. “We had said at that time that it was a strong umbrella that we had built up, and we were using it because it was raining heavily. Now the reserves have again risen,” said Das.
Of RBI’s forex reserves, $52.1 billion is in gold as of March. The value of gold in RBI’s reserves rose by $7 billion in fiscal year 2024. According to World Gold Council, central banks added 39 tonnes to global gold reserves in Jan 2024 with RBI contributing 9 tonnes. According to a recent report, RBI acquired 8.7 tonnes of gold in Jan, representing the highest acquisition in nearly two years. The central bank’s gold reserves rose to just over 812.3 tonnes by the end of Jan. Additionally, the price of gold has experienced a notable surge in recent months.