At record 795 tonnes, RBI's gold reserves see sharp on-year spike

Share of foreign currency assets in overseas securities rises to 81% by March

The share of the country’s foreign currency assets deployed in overseas securities rose to 80.76 per cent by March 2023 from 76.53 per cent in September 2022, according to the Reserve Bank of India’s (RBI) Report on Management of Foreign Exchange Reserves.

The share of money kept in deposits with other central banks and Bank for International Settlement (BIS) declined to 14.82 per cent at the end of March 2023 from 17.27 per cent at the end of September 2022.

The same was the case with deposits with commercial banks overseas with the share declining from 6.2 per cent in September 2022 to 4.42 per cent in March 2023, the RBI report showed. The foreign currency assets rose to $509.69 billion at the end of March 2023 from $472.8 billion at the end of September 2022, RBI added. 

The RBI’s gold reserves increased by 34.22 tonne year-on-year to reach a record 794.64 tonne (including gold deposits of 56.32 tonne) at the end of March. The reserves stood at 785.35 metric tonnes at the end of September 2022. The share of gold in value of its reserves also rose to 7.81 per cent at the end of March from 7.06 per cent as of September 2022.

While 437.22 tonne of gold is held overseas in safe custody with the Bank of England and the Bank of International Settlements (BIS), 301.10 tonne of gold is held domestically. India’s overall foreign exchange reserves now stand at $588.78 billion.

At the end of December 2022, foreign exchange reserves cover of imports increased to 9.3 months from 8.9 months at the end of September, said the report. Forex reserves comprise foreign currency assets, gold, special drawing rights and reserve tranche position in the International Monetary Fund.

(With agency inputs)