April 30 (Reuters) - The share of gold in India's foreign exchange reserves rose to 16.7% at the end of March, up from 13.92% at the end of September 2025, according to the Reserve Bank of India's half-yearly reserves management report released on Thursday.
The uptick reflects a rise in gold's value in India's reserves even as overall foreign exchange reserves declined slightly during the period.
Here are more details:
More than two-thirds of India's gold reserves are now held domestically, data from the central bank showed.
The RBI held 880.52 metric tonnes of gold as of end-March 2026, of which 680.05 metric tonnes were stored domestically.
Over the past two years, India has brought back a sizeable share of its gold previously held overseas. As of March 2024, less than half of the gold reserves were held domestically.
The rise in gold's share mirrors a broader trend of central banks increasing bullion allocations to diversify their reserves.
India's total foreign exchange reserves fell to $691.11 billion as of end-March from $700.09 billion six months ago.
The ratio of volatile capital flows to reserves rose to 69.1% at the end of December 2025 from 66.1% at the end of September, while the ratio of short-term debt to reserves increased to 21.9% from 19.7%.
Foreign exchange reserves provided 10.8 months of import cover at the end of December.
Reporting by Surbhi Misra in Bengaluru; Editing by Diti Pujara
