India’s Forex Reserves See Sharpest Rise In 2 years

New Delhi: After the $10 billion forex swap undertaken by the central bank on February 28, when it bought dollars against rupee to inject liquidity in the system, the country’s foreign exchange reserves saw a huge $15.267 billion spike during the week ended March 7. 

The sharp rise during the week was the sharpest jump in over two years. The forex reserves had increased to an all-time high of $704.885 billion in September last year 2024. Foreign currency assets, a major component of the reserves, increased by $13.993 billion to $557.282 billion. Expressed in dollar terms, the foreign currency assets include the effect of appreciation or depreciation of non-US units like the euro, pound and yen held in the foreign exchange reserves.

The Special Drawing Rights (SDRs) were up by $212 million to $18.21 billion. India’s reserve position with the IMF was down by $69 million at $4.148 billion in the week, the RBI data showed. Meanwhile, high frequency indicators point towards a sequential pick-up in momentum of India’s economic activity during the second half of 2024-25, which is likely to sustain moving forward, according to the latest RBI monthly bulletin. 

In a challenging and increasingly uncertain global environment, the Indian economy is poised to sustain its position as the fastest growing major economy during 2025-26 as per the IMF and World Bank estimates of GDP growth of 6.5 per cent and 6.7 per cent, respectively, the report points out.

It further states that the Union Budget 2025-26 prudently balances fiscal consolidation and growth objectives by continued focus on Capex alongside measures to boost household incomes and consumption. The effective capital expenditure/GDP ratio is budgeted to improve to 4.3 per cent in 2025- 26 from 4.1 per cent in 2024-25 (revised estimate).

High frequency indicators show that the economy is on a path of recovery during H2 of 2024-25 from the loss of momentum witnessed in H1.