forex: Import cover falls below Dec levels as forex kitty shrinks

Kolkata: India’s foreign exchange reserves were adequate to cover around 13 months of imports at the end of 2021, the Reserve Bank of India said in its half-yearly report on the management of forex reserves.

At the end of December 2021, foreign exchange reserves stood at $633.6 billion. It fell to $597.7 billion as of April 29 this year, which implies import coverage has also fallen from the December.

The reserves hit an all-time high of $642.453 billion on September 3 last year which was enough to cover nearly 15 months of imports on a balance of payments basis. The ratio of short-term debt to reserves increased to 18.1% at the end of December 2021 from 16.5% in end-September 2021.

The foreign currency assets comprise multi-currency assets that are held in multi-asset portfolios. As of end-March 2022, out of the total assets of $540.72 billion, $363.03 billion was invested in securities, $140.54 billion was deposited with other central banks and the Bank for International Settlements and the remaining $37.16 billion comprised deposits with commercial banks overseas, the report showed.

At the end of March, RBI held 760.42 metric tonnes of gold (including gold deposits of 11.08 metric tonnes). While 453.52 metric tonnes of gold is held overseas with the Bank of England and the Bank of International Settlements (BIS), 295.82 metric tonnes of gold is held within the country.

The share of gold in the total foreign exchange reserves increased to 7% at the end of March from about 5.88% six months prior to that.