India becomes world's 5th largest Foreign Exchange reserves holder
July 20, 2021, 10:03 am

India becomes world's 5th largest Foreign Exchange reserves holder

The Xinhuanet reported an Indian government official on Monday said the country has emerged as the fifth largest forex reserves holder in the world with 608.99 billion U.S. dollars as of June 25, 2021.

Minister of State Pankaj Chaudhary said at the lower house of the Indian parliament, "With India's forex reserves at 608.99 billion U.S. dollars as on June 25, 2021 stood, India has emerged as the fifth-largest foreign exchange reserves holder in the world after China, Japan, Switzerland and Russia."

He added, India's foreign exchange reserves position is comfortable in terms of import cover of more than 18 months and provides cushion against unforeseen external shocks.

The minister said "Government and RBI (the Reserve Bank of India) are closely monitoring the emerging external position calibrating policies or regulations to support robust macroeconomic growth."

He said the variation in India's forex reserves was primarily the outcome of RBI's intervention in the foreign exchange market to smoothen exchange rate volatility, valuation changes due to movement of the U.S. dollar against other international currencies in the reserve basket, movement in gold prices, interest earnings from deployment of foreign currency assets and inflow of aid receipts.

"Current account deficit, accompanied by increasing foreign exchange reserves, reflects a surplus on the balance of payments i.e., the magnitude of the net capital inflows exceeds the volume of the current account deficit," he said.

"In 2020-21, India's balance of payments recorded surplus in both current account and capital account which contributed to the increase in foreign exchange reserves during the year."

Source: Xinhuanet

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BENEFIT, the Kingdom’s innovator and leading company in Fintech and electronic financial transactions service, has sponsored the BuildHer CityHack 2025 Hackathon, a two-day event spearheaded by the College of Engineering and Technology at the Royal University for Women (RUW).
Aimed at secondary school students, the event brought together a distinguished group of academic professionals and technology experts to mentor and inspire young participants.
More than 100 high school students from across the Kingdom of Bahrain took part in the hackathon, which featured an intensive programme of training workshops and hands-on sessions. These activities were tailored to enhance participants’ critical thinking, collaborative problem-solving, and team-building capabilities, while also encouraging the development of practical and sustainable solutions to contemporary challenges using modern technological tools.
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Professor Riyadh Yousif Hamzah, President of the Royal University for Women, commented: “This initiative reflects our commitment to advancing women in STEM fields. We're cultivating a generation of creative, solution-driven female leaders who will drive national development. Our partnership with BENEFIT exemplifies the powerful synergy between academia and private sector in supporting educational innovation.”
Hanan Abdulla Hasan, Senior Manager, PR & Communication at BENEFIT, said: “We are honoured to collaborate with RUW in supporting this remarkable technology-focused event. It highlights our commitment to social responsibility, and our ongoing efforts to enhance the digital and innovation capabilities of young Bahraini women and foster their ability to harness technological tools in the service of a smarter, more sustainable future.”
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