The Reserve Bank of India has recently bought a lot of gold. Along with this, the central bank has transferred more than 100 tonnes of gold bought in Britain to its reserves in the country. This is the first time in 33 years that the central bank has deposited so much gold in its reserves. This means that the gold bought by India will no longer remain in the vaults of England. Rather, it will now be kept in the wallets of the Reserve Bank of India.
According to the data, RBI had 822.1 tonnes of gold at the end of March. Out of this, RBI has kept 413.8 tonnes of gold abroad. Whereas, in the last financial year, RBI had added 27.5 tonnes of gold to its reserves. In such a situation, the question arises that why is RBI buying so much gold from abroad.
Why is India buying gold from foreign countries?
RBI is gradually reducing the amount of gold deposited abroad and bringing it to India. India is bringing back its gold so that the country’s economy can be strengthened further. India needs more gold to strengthen its economy. India wants the gold reserves in the country to increase and its gold should be used for its benefit.
How much gold does RBI have?
As of the end of March, RBI has a total gold reserve of 822.11 tonnes. Out of this, 413.8 tonnes of gold is kept abroad. In the last financial year itself, RBI has bought about 27.5 tonnes of gold. In the recent past, RBI has shown interest in buying gold rapidly. Compared to the year 2023, RBI has bought about one and a half times more gold during January-March alone. This is being seen as a strategic step for a difficult and challenging situation.
Gold will come to India
Most countries around the world keep their gold in the vaults of the Bank of England. For this, they also have to pay a fee to the central bank of Britain. The Bank of England has some stock of India’s gold since the days before independence. In the Economic Times report, an official said that the RBI started buying gold a few years ago. There is a review of where to keep it. This work is done from time to time. Since the stock was accumulating abroad, it was decided to bring some gold to India. In the year 1991, the Chandrashekhar government had to mortgage this precious metal to deal with the balance of payment crisis. Since then gold has been an emotional issue for most Indians.
A lot of effort had to be made to bring gold from outside
Bringing one thousand quintals of gold from England was not an easy task. For this, many formalities had to be completed, and strict security arrangements had to be made to bring it safely to India. It was brought to India by a special plane. The government provided special custom exemption on this gold. Yes, the central government could not give exemption from GST on it, because the GST collection has to be shared with the states.
