RBI’s Gold Reserves Rise to 879.59 Metric Tonnes; Forex Gold Share Hits 11.7%
Central bank report shows gold’s rising share in reserves as forex holdings fall and external liabilities increase
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) held 879.59 metric tonnes (MT) of gold as of end-March 2025, with 511.99 MT stored domestically, the central bank announced in its latest ‘Half Yearly Report on Management of Foreign Exchange Reserves’ released on Monday. The share of gold in the total foreign exchange reserves increased to 11.70% in value terms (USD), up from 9.32% at the end of September 2024.
The report showed that total foreign exchange reserves, which stood at $705.78 billion in September 2024, dropped to $630.61 billion by January 2025 before recovering slightly to $668.33 billion by the end of March 2025.
The RBI highlighted that during the period from end-December 2023 to end-December 2024, external assets rose by $79.7 billion, while external liabilities increased by $76.1 billion.
Foreign currency assets (FCA), a key component of reserves, stood at $567.56 billion at end-March 2025. Of this, $485.53 billion was invested in securities, $45.68 billion was placed with other central banks and the Bank for International Settlements (BIS), and $36.34 billion was deposited with commercial banks overseas.
To diversify its portfolio and explore new strategies, a small portion of the reserves is managed by external asset managers, the RBI said.
On the macroeconomic front, forex reserves at end-December 2024 covered 10.5 months of imports, down from 11.8 months in September 2024. The ratio of short-term debt (original maturity) to reserves rose to 22.0% from 19.1% in the same period. Meanwhile, the ratio of volatile capital flows to reserves climbed from 67.8% to 74.3%, indicating increased vulnerability to external shocks.