RBI moves 100 tonnes of gold from UK to its vaults, first time since 1991: Report

Business Today reported, citing its sources, that more gold is likely to be brought back with decisions on this yearly.

According to reports, more than half of RBI's gold reserves are held overseas in safe custody with the Bank of England and the Bank of International Settlements, while about a third of it is stored in the vaults in India.

As per reports, the RBI's move of shifting gold will help the central bank to save storage costs, which are paid to the Bank of England.

The RBI held 822.10 tonnes worth of gold as a part of its foreign exchange reserves as of March 31, up from 794.63 tonnes held during the same period of 2023, according to the annual data released by the country's apex bank.

This is the first time since 1991 that gold has been added to the stock kept in the country. In 1991, the then Chandra Shekhar government in the centre pledged gold to tackle the balance of payments crisis.

According to RBI data, the central bank pledged 46.91 tonnes of gold with the Bank of England and the Bank of Japan between July 4 and 18 in 1991 to raise $400 million.