The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has added around 100 tonnes or 1 lakh kilograms of gold from the United Kingdom to its vaults in India, said a TOI report on Friday. This is the most since early 1991 and the central bank intends to move more in the coming months. Domestically, gold is stored in vaults located in the RBI’s old office building on Mumbai’s Mint Road and in Nagpur.
The transfer of the gold to domestic places was done for both logistical and diverse storage purposes, government sources told TOI. This suggests that a comparable amount of gold may be entering the nation once more in the upcoming months.
“RBI started purchasing gold a few years ago and decided to undertake a review of where it wants to store it, something that is done from time to time. Since stock was building up overseas, it was decided to get some of the gold to India,” the report stated.
The Bank of England has traditionally served as a repository for a great deal of central banks, including India, with some of its gold reserves stored in London since before Independence.
Per data, the RBI held 822.1 tonnes of gold, with 413.8 tonnes stored overseas as of March end. The RBI is among the central banks that have purchased gold in recent years, and has added 27.5 tonnes in the last financial year.
The move required collaboration between the RBI, the finance ministry, and a number of other government agencies, including local governments, the report stated. It further added that in order to import the gold into the nation, RBI obtained a customs duty exemption while the Center “foregoing revenue” on what is considered a sovereign asset.
Furthermore , a special aircraft was required to transport the gold while adhering to strict security protocols. Although the savings may not be substantial, the move will also assist RBI in saving on some of the storage costs that are paid to the Bank of England.