India’s foreign-exchange reserves fell $5.011 billion to $721.016 billion for the week ended Oct. 16, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) reported in its Oct. 23 supplement, while separate figures showed bank deposits and credit also eased.
The RBI put reserves at ₹6,846,160 crore, a weekly reduction of ₹176,258 crore. The decline followed a $8.578 billion decrease in the week ended Oct. 9, covered in EconoTimes’ earlier report on the reserve data.
Foreign currency assets came to $591.847 billion after falling $5.758 billion. Gold reserves climbed $706 million to $105.800 billion; Special Drawing Rights advanced $30 million to $18.578 billion, and India’s reserve position in the IMF rose $11 million to $4.791 billion. Reserves stood $29.909 billion above their end-March 2026 level and $18.736 billion above their year-earlier level.
The RBI supplement gave no reason for the decline. PTI reported that unnamed experts attributed it to deployment of FCNR(B) resources and dollar sales by the central bank; the report did not identify the experts.
The RBI put scheduled commercial bank deposits at ₹27,875,910 crore on Oct. 15, a ₹519,170 crore decline from two weeks earlier, though the balance was 16.7% higher year over year. Bank credit totaled ₹22,742,777 crore, ₹252,075 crore below the prior fortnight and up 18.2% from a year earlier. The reserve figures are as of Oct. 16, one day later than the banking data.
The RBI’s bank-statistics calendar now uses the 15th and the month’s final calendar day in place of alternate Fridays, following the Banking Laws (Amendment) Act, 2025. The change took effect Dec. 15, 2025.
