India's foreign exchange reserves increased for the eighth consecutive week to \$688.13 billion as of April 25, according to the latest figures from the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) released on Friday. The reserves increased by \$1.98 billion during the week.
The foreign exchange portion of the reserves increased, rising by $2.17 billion to $580.66 billion. Gold reserves, however, went down by $207 million to $84.37 billion, while Special Drawing Rights (SDR) increased by $21 million to $18.59 billion.
After a period of declining reserves due to revaluation and RBI intervention in the forex market to support the rupee, the trend has reversed in the past two months. In September 2024, the country's forex reserves had touched an all-time high of \\\\$704.885 billion.
An increase in foreign exchange reserves not only strengthens the rupee against the US dollar but also reflects strong economic fundamentals. This rise gives the RBI more elbow room to shore up the rupee when it is needed. A healthy forex kitty allows the RBI to step in and infuse more dollars into the market to halt the decline of the rupee. Conversely, a falling forex reserve gives the RBI less elbow room to manage the currency.
India's external sector has been resilient, with overall exports growing to an all-time high of $824.9 billion in the 2024–25 year, despite global geopolitical tensions and the slow pace in international trade. This is a rise of 6.01% from last year's export figure of $778.1 billion.
The growth has been spearheaded by services, which were at a record high level of $387.5 billion, up 13.6% from $341.1 billion in 2023–24. March 2025 services exports were at $35.6 billion, an 18.6% year-over-year rise from $30.0 billion in March 2024, according to RBI data.
Non-petroleum merchandise exports also hit a new record in 2024–25, reaching \\\\$374.1 billion, a growth of 6% over $352.9 billion in the previous year. This is a record annual non-petroleum merchandise exports by India.
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