India's central bank goes on a gold buying spree

It was confirmed the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) emerged as the second-largest buyer of yellow metal among the world's Central Banks in 2021. The largest buyer, the Central Bank of Thailand, bought 90 metric tonnes of gold while RBI bought 77.5 metric tonnes taking its total gold reserve to 754.1 tonnes at the end of December 2021. India’s official gold reserves are ninth-largest in the world, says Goldhub, the official website of the World Gold Council (WGC) that maintains all the data regarding precious metals.

 

In terms of numbers, at the end of December 2021, the RBI gold reserves stood at 754.1 tonnes, which amounts to 6.22 percent of India’s forex reserves. As per RBI data, India’s total reserves at the end of December 31, 2021, stood at $633.61 billion, including gold reserves worth $39.405 billion.

 

The central bank is reportedly is buying more gold at the moment too. Looking back at how this compares to historical purchases, in 2020, RBI bought 41.68 tonnes of gold while in 2019, it bought 34.52 metric tonnes of gold. At the end of 2020, the central bank’s yellow metal reserves stood at 676.6 tonnes, translating into 6.9 percent of RBI’s total reserves. Looking at some of the other central banks Hungary bought 63 tonnes over the year, tripling its gold reserves, Brazil bought 62 tonnes, while Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan added 30 tonnes and 15 tonnes, respectively.