With the US dollar losing its sheen as the world’s most trusted reserve currency, central banks across the world have been on a gold buying spree. The Reserve Bank is in the forefront as the second largest buyer of the yellow metal, snapping up 2.8 tonnes in January and February 2025 alone, on top of 72.6 tonnes in 2024, taking the overall haul to 879 tonnes.
At 879 tonnes, the share of gold in the country’s total forex reserves is a as high as 11.7% of $677.8 billion, according to the latest Reserve Bank data for the week to April 11, when it rose by $1.56 billion over the previous week marking the fifth consecutive weeks of gains.
With 879 tonnes of gold reserves, the country is the seventh largest in terms of gold reserves after the US(8,133.46 tonnes), Germany (3,351.53 tonnes), Italy (2,451.84 tonnes), France (2,436.94 tonnes), China (2,264.32 tonnes) and Switzerland (1,039.94 tonnes). Japan, though is the world’s third largest economy, its gold haul is at the eight position at 845.97 tonnes. In 2024, according to the World Gold Council, the RBI was the second-largest central bank in the world when it came to purchasing gold, buying 72.6 tonnes in 2024, raising the total gold reserves by 9%. The RBI bought gold in 11 out of the 12 months of the year.
Just to look at these numbers: Of the total gold reserves of 879 tonne, in 2024 alone, the RBI expanded its gold reserves by 72.6 tonnes, which is more than three times it did in the previous year when it bought 16.2 tonnes, and 33.3 tonnes in 2022 and a much higher 77.5 tonnes in 2021. As against these, the central banks across the world, RBI included, snapped up 44 tonnes till February 2025, 1,045 tonnes in 2024, 1,037 tonnes in 2023 and 1,082 tonnes in 2022, according to World Gold council data. The share of gold in the country’s total foreign exchange reserves rose sharply to 11.4% in 2024, up from just 6.7% in 2019 and marginally up to 11.6% so far in 2025.
According to the WGC, the RBI has added 2.8 tonnes in the first two months of 2025. And this came at a time when the metal was roaring—gold rose 15% in 2023, 22% in 2024 and a whopping 28% so far in 2025! From a monthly comparison, the metal was fetching a low $1,725/ounce in April 2021, which rose to $1920 in April 2022, further rose to $2000 in April 2023, $2,350 in April 2024 and a whopping $3,368 in April (16) 2025, which is almost 90% rally in just five years.