While the Indian families add to their gold assets Dhanteras, so does the Reserve Bank of India.
Recently, RBI reported that it transferred 102 tonnes of gold from the vaults of the Bank of England in London to a safe place within India. This is a step of the RBI to boost the country’s gold reserve at a time when there are tremors in the global economy. Ironically, the timing for the repatriation of gold has coincided with the season of traditional gold purchases. This lends festivity to the national level while celebrating symbolic and strategic value to India’s financial security.

RBI Secures 510 Tonnes Domestically

According to many reports, RBI has managed to bring back over 510.5 tonnes of the total 855 tonnes of gold reserves within the country as of the end of September. By shipping 214 tonnes of gold to a domestic location, Indian authorities responded to rising global geopolitical tension. In this view, government officials endorse the action and argue for enhanced security given that the reserves are held within India.

The re-domiciliation marks a transition in the Indian Reserve Bank’s management of the country’s reserves. In this context, the recent transfer of gold from September 2022 to October 2023 is the first large-scale repatriation of gold reserves since the early 1990s. It was back then when the Indian government sold gold holdings abroad to improve the balance of payments.

In May, The Times of India first reported on the plan to bring back 100 tonnes along with additional transfers planned later. Current trends of the Indian reserves show a drift in focus toward domestic asset support as the economic crisis could become a pandemic.

RBI’s Secret Mission

RBI, Last time collaborated with the government and successfully completed the mission. This mission involved special aircraft and detailed arrangements made to bring gold back to the nation. They made sure that the information would not leak. The shipments also require an exemption from the levy of taxes.

According to the information, the 324 tonnes are in the safe custody of the Bank of England and the Bank for International Settlements. This will also keep the bulk of the precious metal in the UK. A little over 20 tonnes of RBI’s holdings were kept in gold deposits.

The Bank of England, safe custody for the gold reserves of the UK and other central banks, is also the second largest gold custodian after the New York Federal Reserve.

More About Bank Of England

It is named a “bullion warehouse” and was built in 1697. It was later expanded to deal with the gold rush from Brazil to Australia and from California to South Africa. The bank holds around 4 lakh bars of gold. At the beginning of September, these vaults held nearly 5,350 tonnes (or around 17 crore fine troy ounces) of gold.
Quick liquidity given access to the London bullion market was cited as a key advantage of storing gold with the Bank of England. RBI data also revealed that RBI has increased its gold holdings, which at the end of Sept accounted for 9.3% of India’s foreign exchange reserves, compared with 8.1% in March.

Top 10 Countries With The Largest Gold Reserves, As Of 2024:

According to reports, The top 10 countires to have the largest gold reserve are the following:

• USA- 8133.46 tonnes
• Germany- 3351.53 tonnes
• Italy- 2,451.84 tonnes
• France- 2436.97 tonnes
• Russian Federation- 2335.85 tonnes
• China- 2264.32 tonnes
• India- 855 tonnes
• japan- 845.97 tonnes
• Netherlands- 612.45 tonnes
• Turkey- 584.93 tonnes