look news india
The Reserve Bank of India has brought back more than 100 tonnes of gold from Britain and has kept it in its reserves. According to information, the same amount of yellow metal can be brought back to the country next month. This gold, which was pledged in 1991, has been included in the RBI's stock for the first time.
More than half of the RBI's gold reserves are safely stored abroad with the Bank of England and the Bank of International Settlements. About a third of these are held locally. Bringing gold from Britain to India will also help the Reserve Bank of India save on storage costs, which are paid to the Bank of India.
Gold was mortgaged 33 years ago
According to the annual data released by the RBI, the central government held 822.10 tonnes of gold as part of foreign exchange as of March 31, 2024. Which was 794.63 tonnes more than the same period last year. In 1991, the Chandrashekhar government had pledged gold to deal with the balance of payments crisis. Between 4 and 18 July 1991, the RBI pledged 46.91 tokens of gold with the Bank of England and the Bank of Japan to raise $ 400 million.
India has bought a lot of gold
The central bank had bought 200 tonnes of gold from the International Monetary Fund about 15 years ago. During the tenure of the UPA government in 2009, when Manmohan Singh was the Prime Minister, India had bought 200 tonnes of gold worth $6.7 billion to diversify its assets. The stock of gold purchased by the Reserve Bank has been rising steadily over the years.
Central banks diversify their foreign currency holdings primarily for the purpose of holding gold as a hedge against inflation and foreign exchange risk. The RBI has started regularly depositing gold in the market since December 2017. The share of gold in the country's total foreign exchange reserves will increase from 7.75 per cent at the end of December 2023 to about 8.7 per cent by the end of April 2024.
Where does RBI keep so much gold?
Inside the country, gold is kept in the RBI building on Mint Road in Mumbai and in vaults in Nagpur. According to a report by the World Gold Council, global central banks hold about 17 percent of the gold mined so far, and this gold reserve is expected to exceed 36,699 metric tonnes by the end of 2023.