India's FX reserves jump $44.9 bn, lifting it to fourth-largest holder worldwide

The Reserve Bank of India announced a historic weekly gain of $44.9 billion in its foreign exchange reserves, bringing the total to a new high of $785.7 billion for the week ended Sept 4. This surge pushed India ahead of Russia to become the fourth-largest global holder of FX reserves, behind China, Japan and Switzerland. Most of the rise stemmed from strong dollar inflows via the RBI’s concessional swap window, especially the FCNR(B) deposits scheme, with foreign currency assets climbing $47.5 billion to $648.17 billion.

Gold reserves, however, dropped $2.59 billion to $113.81 billion as gold prices fell 0.56 percent. The rupee remained under pressure, slipping to 95.56 per dollar amid higher crude oil prices and rising US Treasury yields, though RBI swaps and spot interventions helped curb the decline. The central bank’s swap facility has already attracted $136.4 billion in foreign currency inflows by the end of August and is expected to continue into early September.