The Centre has debunked a recent media report claiming that the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) sold gold to save forex reserve. The fact-check came after a Bloomberg report, quoting sources, claimed that the RBI may have sold gold amounting to approximately $12 billion.
Countering the claim, the Centre 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, "The physical stock of gold is also disclosed by RBI in its Monthly Bulletin... For authentic information, always visit the RBI's official website."
Abhishek Gupta, Senior India Economist at Bloomberg Economics, had made an assessment that 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 RBI said in a statement 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 RBI's sale of gold. The RBI emphasizes that these reports are not correct," the central bank said.
RBI Report On Bank Deposits
Meanwhile, RBI, earlier this week, released data showing 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.
