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  • May 13, 2021

Forex reserves surged by $32.29 bn in six months: RBI

MUMBAI: The country's foreign exchange reserves increased to $578.99 billion on March 31, 2021, up from $545.68 billion at the end of last year's September, an RBI report said.

The report stated that foreign currency assets (FCA), a major component of total reserves, increased to $546.693 billion as of March-end 2021 from $502.172 billion.

Foreign exchange reserves rose by $83.9 billion on a balance-of-payments basis (excluding valuation changes) from April to December 2020, compared to $40.7 billion the previous year, according to the study.

In nominal terms (including valuation changes), foreign exchange reserves rose by $108 billion from April to December 2020, compared to $47 billion in the previous year.

The foreign exchange reserves cover of imports increased to 18.6 months at the end of December 2020, up from 17.1 months at the end of September 2020, according to RBI's report on foreign exchange reserves management — October 2020-March 2021, which was published on Wednesday.

In the domestic foreign exchange market, the Reserve Bank's net forward asset (receivable) as of March-end 2021 was $68.2 billion.

The Reserve Bank had 695.31 metric tonnes of gold on hand as of March 31, 2021.

“While 405.09 metric tonnes of gold is held in safe custody overseas with the Bank of England and the Bank of International Settlements (BIS), 296.60 tonnes of gold is held domestically,” according to the survey.

In terms of value (USD), gold's share of total foreign exchange reserves fell from about 6.69 percent at the end of September 2020 to about 5.87 percent on March 31, 2021. Gold reserves were $33.88 billion at the end of March 2021, down from $36.429 billion in September 2020, according to the report.