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Did RBI sell gold reserves worth $12 billion to save foreign assets? A fact-check
The clarification came after a report claimed that the central bank may have reduced part of its gold reserves to protect its foreign-currency assets.
The Centre on Wednesday dismissed reports suggesting that the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) had sold gold reserves worth USD 12 billion to strengthen the country's foreign exchange reserves.
The clarification came after a Bloomberg report claimed that the central bank may have reduced part of its gold holdings to protect its foreign-currency reserves from the impact of the ongoing conflict in West Asia.
A fact-check on RBI's gold ‘sale’ claims
In a press release issued on Wednesday, India's central bank rejected media reports claiming that it had sold gold reserves worth roughly $12 billion to protect its foreign-currency assets.
“The RBI emphasises that these reports are not correct," it said.
The bank also said that the physical stock of gold remains unchanged at 880.52 tonnes as of date. “Members of the public are, therefore, advised to rely on official information published by RBI from time to time in such matters,” it added.
Meanwhile, PIB (Press Information Bureau) also published a fact-check on the reports, calling them “fake”.
It said the share of gold in India's foreign exchange reserves “rose to 16.70% on March 31, 2026”.
“According to @RBI, the share of gold in India's foreign exchange reserves rose from 13.92% at end-September 2025 to 16.70% on March 31, 2026, and further to 16.85% as of May 22, 2026,” it said in the post.
It further said that the physical stock of gold is disclosed by the RBI in its monthly bulletin and remains unchanged as of date.
What did the report claim?
The Bloomberg report said the Reserve Bank of India likely sold gold reserves worth around $12 billion during the two weeks ending May 22, while purchasing $7.5 billion in foreign-currency assets.
The report added that the RBI's actions in the foreign exchange market appeared to have supported the rupee, helping it perform better than most Asian currencies since May 20, when it touched a record low. On Tuesday, the rupee was down 0.2% at 95.17 against the US dollar.
It further said that by the end of March, the RBI held 880.52 metric tonnes of gold, with 77% of those holdings stored within India.
Six months earlier, 66% of the gold reserves were held domestically. According to the RBI's half-yearly foreign exchange report released in April, most of its overseas gold holdings are kept with the Bank of England and the Bank for International Settlements.
