The Reserve Bank of India added more gold in its reserves in FY25 vs FY24, with the quantity of the yellow metal it bought more than doubling to 57.49 tonnes from 27.46 mt, per RBI’s Half Yearly Report on Management of Foreign Exchange (FX) Reserves.
Simultaneously, the share of gold in value terms in forex reserves rose to double digits in percentage terms. This gold purchase by the central bank came amid geopolitical conflicts, geoeconominc fragmentation and financial markets volatility
As at end-March 2025, the Reserve Bank held 879.59 tonnes of gold against 822.10 tonnes as at end-March 2024 and 794.64 tonnes as at end-March 2023.
As at end-March 2025, RBI held 58 per cent (or 511.99 tonnes) domestically against about 50 per cent (or 408.31 tonnes) as at March-end 2024.
While 348.62 tonnes of gold were kept in safe custody with the Bank of England and the Bank for International Settlements (387.26 tonnes as at March-end 2024), 18.98 tonnes (26.53 tonnes) were held in the form of gold deposits.
In value terms (USD), the share of gold in the total foreign exchange reserves increased from 8.15 per cent as at end-March 2024 and 9.32 per cent as at end-September 2024 to about 11.70 per cent as at end-March 2025.
As at March-end 2025, India’s forex reserves stood at $668.326 billion ($646.419 billion as at March-end 2024), per the report.
Forex reserves
At the end of December 2024, foreign exchange reserves cover of imports (on balance of payments basis) stood at 10.5 months (11.8 months at end-September 2024 and 11 months at end-December 2023).
The ratio of short-term debt (original maturity) to reserves, which was 19.1 per cent at end-September 2024, increased to 22.0 per cent at end-December 2024 (20.3 per cent at end-December 2023).
The ratio of volatile capital flows (including cumulative portfolio inflows and outstanding short-term debt) to reserves increased from 67.8 per cent at end-September 2024 to 74.3 per cent at end-December 2024 (70.4 per cent at end-December 2023).
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Published on May 5, 2025
