According to sources today, India transferred 100 metric tonnes of its gold that was kept in UK vaults to domestic vaults in FY24.
This is one of the largest gold transfers the nation has made since 1991, when it was forced out of India after a significant portion of the holding was pledged to help weather a foreign exchange crisis.
According to official data, the nation’s total gold holdings increased by 27.46 metric tonnes in FY24 and currently total 822 metric tonnes.
According to the sources who spoke with Press Trust of India, a significant portion of the valuable commodity is kept overseas. They also mentioned that, like other nations, India had its holdings with the Bank of England.
With the 100 metric tonnes that were moved into India, there are now over 408 metric tonnes of gold stored locally, nearly evenly divided between local and foreign holdings.
According to the central bank’s annual report for FY24, which was made public on Thursday, more than 308 metric tonnes of gold are kept in India as collateral for notes that are issued, and an additional 100.28 tonnes are kept locally as departmental assets for the banking sector.
According to the annual report, 413.79 metric tonnes of the total gold reserves are kept overseas.
Sources told Press Trust of India that given the gold buying over the last few years, a call was taken to reduce the holding abroad which is part of the standard review procedures.
In 2009, India had bought 200 tonnes of gold from the International Monetary Fund, after which it has been buying the precious commodity from the secondary market as part of its foreign exchange asset diversification efforts.
Officials from the Ministry of Finance, the RBI and other agencies took care of the movement of gold in complete secrecy given the high value, as per the sources.
At present, the gold held locally is stored at high security vaults and facilities in Mumbai and Nagpur, the sources added.