Last week, India’s forex reserves declined to a more than one-year low of $681.4 billion in the week ended May 22, compared with $688.89 billion in the previous week.
The reserves had earlier reached an all-time high of $728.494 billion in the week ended February 27 this year, before the onset of the West Asia conflict. This was followed by several weeks of decline as the rupee came under pressure and the Reserve Bank of India intervened in the foreign exchange market through dollar sales.
The FCAs are expressed in dollar terms and include the impact of appreciation or depreciation of non-US currencies such as the euro, pound, and yen held in the reserves. Gold reserves declined $2.186 billion during the week to $112.6 billion, the RBI said.
Special drawing rights (SDRs) remained unchanged at $18.747 billion, the central bank added. India’s reserve position with the IMF increased by $8 million to $4.826 billion at the end of the reporting week, according to RBI data.
Earlier on Friday, RBI Governor Sanjay Malhotra said the forex reserve stood at a healthy $682.3 billion, adequate to provide import cover for about 11 months. Various policy initiatives are expected to strengthen the balance of payments, he said while announcing the second bi-monthly monetary policy for the current fiscal.
“As of May 29, 2026, India’s foreign exchange reserves stood at a healthy $682.3 billion, adequate in terms of the standard metrics of reserve adequacy, including import cover (for about 11 months) and external debt (89.1%),” he said.
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Notably, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has made multiple public appeals to the public, starting May 11, to conserve forex by cutting down on foreign travel, limiting fuel use and refraining from gold buys for a year.
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(Edited by : Shoma Bhattacharjee)
First Published: Jun 5, 2026 6:12 PM IST
