Mumbai: India’s overseas alternate reserves rose for the eighth straight week to the touch $688.13 billion as of April 25, based on the most recent RBI information launched on Friday. The overseas alternate kitty surged by $1.98 billion in the course of the week.

The overseas forex part of the reserves elevated by $2.17 billion to $580.66 billion. The gold reserves part of the foreign exchange reserves decreased by $207 million to $84.37 billion whereas Particular Drawing Rights (SDR) went up by $21 million to $18.59 billion.

The declining pattern in foreign exchange reserves of earlier months on account of revaluation and foreign exchange market interventions by the RBI to assist cut back volatility within the rupee has now been reversed over the past two months . Earlier, the nation’s foreign exchange reserves had elevated to an all-time excessive of $704.885 billion in September 2024.

Any strengthening of the nation’s overseas alternate kitty additionally helps bolster the rupee vis-a-vis the US greenback which is sweet for the financial system. A rise within the overseas alternate reserves displays the robust fundamentals of the financial system and offers the RBI extra headroom to stabilise the rupee when it turns unstable.

A robust foreign exchange kitty allows the RBI to intervene within the spot and ahead forex markets by releasing extra {dollars} to forestall the rupee from going right into a free fall. Conversely, a declining foreign exchange kitty leaves the RBI much less area to intervene available in the market to prop up the rupee.

In the meantime, India’s exterior sector has emerged stronger with complete exports rising to an all-time excessive of $824.9 billion within the monetary 12 months 2024–25 regardless of geopolitical uncertainties and a slowdown in world commerce. This represents a progress of 6.01 per cent over the earlier 12 months’s export determine of $778.1 billion.

Providers exports continued to drive the expansion momentum, reaching a historic excessive of $387.5 billion in 2024–25, up 13.6 per cent from $341.1 billion within the earlier 12 months. For March 2025, companies exports stood at $35.6 billion, reflecting a year-on-year progress of 18.6 per cent in comparison with $30.0 billion in March 2024, the most recent RBI figures present.

In 2024–25, merchandise exports excluding petroleum merchandise rose to a file $374.1 billion, registering a 6 per cent improve from $352.9 billion in 2023–24 — the best ever annual non-petroleum merchandise exports.