A report on August 12 said that the gold reserves of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), in the proportion to its forex (foreign exchange) reserves, crossed 700 tonnes for the first time, with the highest gold purchase on a half-yearly basis.
As reported by Business Standard, RBI purchased 29 tonnes of gold, as part of its forex reserves, in the first half of the calendar year 2021. Hence, the central bank’s gold reserves stood at 705.6 tonnes as of June 30 this year.
This has marked a rise of nearly 27 per cent in the past two years. At the beginning of 2018, the gold holding of the central bank stood at 558.1 tonnes.
While the holding has cumulatively increased, the share of gold in the RBI’s forex reserves declined to 6.5 per cent in June 2021 quarter as against 7 per cent at the end of March.
Furthermore, citing the data shared by World Gold Council (WGC), the newspaper reported that during June 2021, the central bank’s share of gold purchase among all global central banks was around 30 per cent.
WGC added in its latest report, “Central banks are likely to continue buying gold on a net basis in 2021 at a similar or higher rate than in 2020, driven by a continued focus on diversification and risk management.”
With 705.6 tonnes of gold reserves, India’s central bank now ranks 10th among all recognized global central banks in terms of gold holdings as part of their forex reserves.
