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The Centre has rejected reports suggesting the RBI sold billions in gold to bolster India’s forex reserves, stating that the claims are inaccurate and do not reflect the central bank’s reserve management strategy. The development highlights the importance of accurate interpretation of reserve data and central bank disclosures.
Abhishek Gupta, Senior India Economist at Bloomberg Economics, assessed that the RBI sold gold worth around $12 billion in the two weeks through May 22, while purchasing about $7.5 billion of foreign-currency assets.
The Centre has debunked the report and specified that the share of gold in India's foreign exchange reserves has actually risen "from 13.92 per cent at end-September 2025 to 16.70 per cent on March 31, 2026, and further to 16.85 per cent as of May 22, 2026".
The clarification added, "RBI also discloses the physical stock of gold in its Monthly Bulletin... For authentic information, always visit the RBI's official website."
Earlier this week, the RBI released data showing that the composition of bank deposits in India has undergone a significant shift over the past five years. It showed that savers are increasingly moving their money from low-yield savings accounts to higher-return term deposits.
According to the RBI's latest data, the share of savings deposits in aggregate bank deposits declined sharply to 28.7% in March 2026 from 34.6% in March 2022. In contrast, the share of term deposits rose from 55.2% to 61.6% during the same period.
The RBI said in a statement that its physical stock of the precious metal remains unchanged at 880.52 tonnes. "The RBI has come across reports in certain sections of the media about the RBI's sale of gold. The RBI emphasizes that these reports are not correct," the central bank said.
“It is also clarified that claims suggesting that gold plates on temple towers, doors, or other temple structures will be considered as “strategic gold reserves of India” are false, misleading, and entirely baseless," the ministry said.
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Earlier, there were reports that the government would monetize the gold with temple trusts amid the foreign exchange crisis in the wake of the West Asia crisis.
“Speculation and rumours suggesting that the government is planning to introduce monetization scheme for gold held by temple trusts, or any religious institution, across the country are completely false, misleading and without any basis,” the ministry said a short while back.
The spread of misinformation about data from central banks has an immediate effect on market mood and leads to unnecessary speculation that could cause confusion in the market. It is therefore very important to report data from central banks accurately.
