As of the end of March 2025, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) held 879.59 metric tonnes (MT) of gold, with 511.99 MT kept inside India, according to the central bank on Monday.
348.62 MT of gold was safely kept in custody by the Bank of England and the Bank for International Settlements (BIS), and 18.98 MT was kept as gold deposits.
On a value (USD) basis, the share of gold in India's foreign exchange reserves increased from 9.32% as of September 2024 to about 11.70% as of March 2025, according to the RBI's 'Half Yearly Report on Management of Foreign Exchange Reserves'.
Over the period covered in this review, from June to December 2024, the reserves decreased from $705.78 billion as of the end of September 2024 to $630.61 billion as of January 2025, before increasing again to $668.33 billion as of March 2025.
From December 2023 to December 2024, India's external assets increased by $79.7 billion, whereas external liabilities increased by $76.1 billion.
The foreign currency assets (FCA) comprise diversified multi-currency holdings in multi-asset portfolios according to international standards for managing reserves.
As of March 2025, securities absorbed $485.53 billion of the total FCA of $567.56 billion, $45.68 billion was placed with central banks and BIS, and $36.34 billion was placed in deposits with foreign commercial banks.
To look into new opportunities and diversify its portfolio, the RBI has placed a limited amount of its reserves with external asset managers, as per its report.
As of December 2024, foreign exchange reserves of India were sufficient to cover 10.5 months of imports (11.8 months in September 2024), based on balance of payments data.
The proportion of short-term debt over reserves, which was 19.1% in September 2024, jumped to 22.0% as of the end of December 2024.
Moreover, the proportion of volatile capital flows, including cumulative portfolio inflows and outstanding short-term debt, went up from 67.8% at the end of September 2024 to 74.3% as of December 2024, the RBI said.
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