Foreign Exchange Reserves in India

Foreign Exchange Reserves comprise the international assets held by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI): foreign currency, gold, SDRs and the reserve position at the IMF. India holds one of the world's largest reserve stocks and the RBI uses it actively to smooth movements in the rupee.

They are compiled by the RBI from its own weekly balance sheet and published in the Weekly Statistical Supplement, in billions of US dollars.

Markets track the weekly change as a gauge of currency intervention: rising reserves give the RBI room to defend the rupee, while a rapid drawdown typically reflects dollar sales to curb depreciation.

The figures are provisional and revised in later releases. Their dollar value also reflects gold valuation and cross-rate effects, not only the RBI's purchases and sales.