India's forex reserves remain adequate, trade pacts, policy reforms to strengthen external sector, says RBI Governor

India's foreign exchange reserves remain at comfortable levels and are expected to be further aided by a series of trade agreements and policy reforms, RBI Governor Sanjay Malhotra said in the monetary policy statement on Friday.

India's foreign exchange reserves stood at $682.3 billion as of May 29, 2026, which the governor described as adequate in terms of the standard metrics of reserve adequacy including import cover of about 11 months and 89.1% external debt.

Malhotra said several recent policy measures are expected to strengthen the country's balance of payments position. These include trade agreements with key partners, opening the insurance sector to 100% foreign direct investment, the ethanol blending programme, efforts towards energy transition, easing of FDI restrictions for land-bordering countries, liberalisation of the external commercial borrowing framework and other initiatives.


The governor highlighted a series of trade deals concluded or implemented in recent months. Trade agreements with the UK and New Zealand have been signed, while agreements with the European Free Trade Association (EFTA) and Oman came into force on October 1, 2025 and June 1, 2026, respectively.

While negotiations on a trade deal with the European Union have been concluded, an interim trade agreement with the US was announced in February 2026, and re-negotiations are continuing since April.

Many more trade agreements are in the pipeline including negotiations with Canada, Peru, Mexico, Bahrain, Qatar and South Korea.