India overtakes Russia to have fourth largest forex reserves

Emerging markets have been building reserves to guard against volatility due to COVID aftershocks.

Reserves for India and Russia have plateaued rising for months. India pulled ahead as Russian holdings declined at a faster rate. India’s foreign currency holdings fell by $4.3 bn to $580.3 bn as of March 5, the Reserve Bank of India said on Friday, edging out Russia’s $580.1 bn pile. The world’s largest forex reserves league table is headed by China, followed by Japan and Switzerland.

India’s reserves are now worth 18 months of imports have been boosted by massive inflows by FIIs into the stock market and burgeoning FDI.

As per a recent report by Acuite Ratings, the Indian rupee has strengthened in 2021 so far on healthy portfolio inflows, and sharp downward adjustment in inflation.“We expect India to post record BoP surplus of $105 billion in FY21,” it said.