The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on Wednesday denied the claims of selling approximately $12 billion worth of gold to protect the foreign-exchange reserves from the economic fallout of the ongoing conflict in the Middle East. The PIB has fact-checked the report in a social media post on X and wrote, “A news report published by @Bloomberg states that RBI may have sold gold amounting to approximately USD 12 billion. #PIBFactCheck. This claim is FAKE.”
“According to @RBI, the share of gold in India’s foreign exchange reserves rose from 13.92% at end-September 2025 to 16.70% on March 31, 2026, and further to 16.85% as of May 22, 2026. The physical stock of gold is also disclosed by RBI in its Monthly Bulletin. The latest edition is available on the RBI website at: https://rbi.org.in/Scripts/BS_ViewBulletin.aspx?Id=24213, the status of which remains unchanged as on date. → For authentic information, always visit the RBI’s official website: http://rbi.org.in,” the post added.
Along with the PIB factcheck, RBI also released an official statement and said, “The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has come across reports in certain sections of the media about RBI’s sale of gold. The RBI emphasises that these reports are not correct. In this context, it is clarified that the physical stock of gold is disclosed by RBI in its Monthly Bulletin. The latest edition is available on the RBI website at: https://www.rbi.org.in/Scripts/BS_ViewBulletin.aspx?Id=24213, and the physical stock of gold remains unchanged at 880.52 tonnes as on date. Members of public are, therefore, advised to rely on official information published by RBI from time to time in such matters.”
On Tuesday, a Bloomberg report suggested that the RBI may have offloaded part of its gold reserves in recent weeks as it worked to cushion the impact of escalating tensions in the Middle East on the country’s foreign-exchange position. Abhishek Gupta, Senior India Economist at Bloomberg Economics, estimates that the RBI offloaded nearly $12 billion worth of gold in the two weeks preceding May 22. Over the same period, the central bank is believed to have increased its foreign-currency assets by roughly $7.5 billion.
The report stated that the conclusion is drawn from publicly available reserve data. Gupta noted that the movement in reserves appears unusual given the recent increase in gold import duties, which would typically boost the valuation of both the RBI’s gold holdings and its dollar-denominated assets. Against that backdrop, the decline in gold reserves suggests the possibility of active sales by the central bank, states the report.