RBI’s forex gains jump 52% to Rs 1.69 trillion in FY26

The Reserve Bank of India’s gains from foreign exchange transactions rose 52 per cent to Rs 1.69 trillion ($17.70 billion) in the fiscal year ended March 2026, according to the central bank’s annual report released on Friday.

The Reserve Bank of India realises gains when it sells dollars from its reserves in the foreign exchange markets to protect the rupee, benchmarking those sales to its historical average price of dollar purchases.

In the previous fiscal year, the RBI had reported gains of Rs 1.11 trillion from foreign exchange intervention.

Earlier this month, the central bank said it would transfer a record Rs 2.87 trillion ($29.99 billion) to the federal government for the fiscal year ended March 2026, after making a transfer to its contingency reserves.

The RBI’s balance sheet expanded 20.61 per cent to Rs 91.97 trillion ($961.1 billion) as of March 31, 2026, the report showed.

Apart from gains from foreign exchange operations, the central bank also earned income from investments in foreign securities, including US Treasuries.

Interest income from foreign securities increased to Rs 1.07 trillion from Rs 970.07 billion in the previous fiscal year.