India’s foreign exchange reserves recorded a sharp decline in the first week of 2026, followed by a marginal recovery in the subsequent week.
According to data released by the Reserve Bank of India on Friday, foreign exchange reserves increased by $392 million during the week ended January 9, 2026. This followed a steep fall of $6.80 billion in the previous week.
With the latest increase, India’s total foreign exchange reserves stood at $687.193 billion. The reserves had earlier touched an all-time high of $704.885 billion on September 27, 2024.
Foreign Currency Assets, which constitute the largest component of the reserves, declined by $1.124 billion during the week ended January 9, after registering a fall of $7.622 billion in the preceding week. As a result, Foreign Currency Assets fell to $550.866 billion.
Foreign Currency Assets include the impact of movements in major non-US currencies such as the euro, British pound and Japanese yen, in addition to the US dollar, and are subject to valuation changes.
Gold reserves rose by $1.568 billion during the week ended January 9, reversing a decline of $2.058 billion recorded in the previous week. India’s gold reserves stood at $112.830 billion. The Reserve Bank of India currently holds more than 880 tonnes of gold, which accounts for around 14.7 per cent of the country’s total foreign exchange reserves.
Special Drawing Rights declined by $39 million during the week, following a fall of $25 million in the previous week, and stood at $18.739 billion.
India’s reserve position with the International Monetary Fund also declined by $108 million during the week, bringing the IMF reserves down to $4.758 billion.
