NEW DELHI, India — India’s foreign exchange reserves rose by $8.053 billion in the week ended January 23 to reach an all-time high of $709.413 billion, according to data released Friday by the Reserve Bank of India.
The latest level surpassed the previous record of $704.89 billion, which was recorded in September 2024.
RBI data showed that foreign currency assets, the largest component of the reserves, increased by $2.367 billion to $562.885 billion during the week. The value of gold holdings rose by $5.635 billion to $123.088 billion.
Special Drawing Rights increased by $33 million to $18.737 billion, while India’s reserve position with the International Monetary Fund rose by $18 million to $4.703 billion, the central bank said.
In the previous week, India’s foreign exchange reserves had jumped by $14.167 billion to $701.360 billion.
The rise in reserves comes as India continues to benefit from strong external inflows. According to the Economic Survey 2025–26, India remains the world’s largest recipient of remittances, with inflows reaching $135.4 billion in FY25, helping support stability in the country’s external accounts.
The Survey noted that India has consistently attracted sizable gross investment inflows, amounting to 18.5 percent of GDP in FY25, even amid tightening global financial conditions. UNCTAD data showed that India remained the largest recipient of gross foreign direct investment inflows in South Asia and surpassed major regional peers such as Indonesia and Vietnam.
India also ranked fourth globally in greenfield investment announcements in 2024, with more than 1,000 projects, and emerged as the largest destination for greenfield digital investments between 2020 and 2024, attracting $114 billion.
During April–November 2025, gross FDI inflows strengthened to $64.7 billion, compared with $55.8 billion in the same period a year earlier. In terms of adequacy, the Survey said the reserves are sufficient to cover about 11 months of goods imports and nearly 94 percent of external debt outstanding as of the end of September 2025, providing a comfortable liquidity buffer for the economy. (Source: IANS)
