With foreign exchange reserves rising to $429.84 billion as at end June 2019 from $412.47 billion as at end March 2019, the import cover rose to 10 months compared with 9.6 months, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) said in its half yearly report on foreign exchange management.
“The ratio of short-term debt (original maturity) to reserves, which was 26.3% at end-March 2019, declined to 25.5% at end-June 2019,” RBI said.
According to latest data, India’s foreign reserves stood at $554 billion as on December 13.
As at end-September, 2019, the RBI held 618.17 tonnes of gold with 325.87 tonnes being held in safe custody of Bank of England and the Bank for International Settlements. The balance is held domestically.
In value terms, the share of gold in the total foreign exchange reserves increased marginally from about 5.59% as at end-March 2019 to about 6.14% as at end-September 2019.
