Agencies
NEW DELHI, Apr 1: India is the fourth largest country to hold foreign exchange reserves of USD 658.8 billion, enough to meet the country's imports for 11 months, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman told the Rajya Sabha on Tuesday. Replying to supplementaries during the question hour, she assured members of their concerns on the foreign exchange reserves and the current account deficit.
"I want to assure you that total foreign exchange reserves as of March 25, 2025, is USD 658.8 billion. We are the fourth largest in terms of foreign exchange reserves that any country holds. Which means the amount that we hold in foreign exchange reserve is good enough to take care of 11 months of our imports.
"Even though there has been a little fall in the foreign exchange reserve, today the position is that we are the fourth largest in terms of foreign exchange reserves that we hold," the finance minister said. India is the fourth largest nation in terms of foreign exchange reserves after China, Japan and Switzerland.
Earlier, responding to concerns of members on the depreciating value of the Indian rupee, Minister of State for Finance Pankaj Chaudhary said the local currency has strengthened in the last few months while several other countries, including South Korea and the United Kingdom, had depreciated more.
On foreign investors pulling out money from the Indian capital markets, the minister said, "Foreign portfolio investors are by nature "fly-by-night" and FPIs have booked their profits in recent months in the Indian markets and reposes confidence in Indian markets". |
