Of the 880.52 metric tonnes (mt) of gold held at end-March, the central bank brought back about 680 mt, while 197.67 mt remained in custody with the Bank of England and the Bank for International Settlements. The RBI also holds 2.8 mt in the form of gold deposits.
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Six months earlier, the RBI had repatriated 65.4% of its gold reserves.
The move to accelerate gold repatriation began after the Russia–Ukraine war and the Taliban’s takeover of Afghanistan, instances in which G7 countries seized the foreign currency reserves of Russia and Afghanistan.
In March 2023, 301.1 mt of gold, or 37% of total gold reserves, was held domestically, according to RBI data.
Data on the repatriation of gold were released by the RBI in its Half-Yearly Report on Management of Foreign Exchange Reserves: October 2025–March 2026.
During the six-month period ending March 2026, the RBI brought home 104.23 mt of gold. It reduced its holdings with the Bank of England and the Bank for International Settlements to 197.6 mt at end-March 2026 from 290 mt at end-September 2025.
“In a world where the global monetary system is breaking down, I firmly believe that if gold is not in your possession, then it is not your gold. India is not an outlier here—many countries are repatriating their gold from London and New York,” said Ritesh Jain, founder of Pinetree Macro.
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The RBI report said that, in value terms (USD), gold’s share of total foreign exchange reserves rose to about 16.70% at end-March 2026 from 13.92% at end-September 2025.
During the half-year period under review, total foreign exchange reserves declined to USD 691.1 billion at end-March 2026 from USD 700 billion at end-September 2025.