RBI Shifts 100 Tonnes of Gold from London to India | Vantage with Palki Sharma

recently a very special aircraft flew from the UK to India very few people knew about it because the cargo was sensitive around 100 tons of gold and before you ask no it was not some illegal smuggling ring this is as legal as it gets this gold belongs to India's Central Bank the RBI or The Reserve Bank of India until now it was stored at the bank of England in London but the RBI has brought it back 100 tons of gold it's happened for the first time since 1991 now I know you have questions so let's go one by one why does RBI have gold well every Central Bank in the world has gold reserves because unlike currencies gold is stable say your country falls into an economic crisis or you're running low on dollars you can use this gold to bail yourself out so every country has gold reserves in fact central banks own 177% of all the gold ever mined 17% and how much does the RBI have the Reserve Bank of India they have around 822 tons of gold more than half of this was stored abroad outside India in the Bank of England and the bank of international settlements which brings us to the second question why was it stored abroad well some of the gold was there even before independence Indian gold gold was stored outside the rest was sent out during the 1990s back then India was facing an economic crisis so the RBI kept the gold in England it's actually common practice the bank of England stores 400,000 bars of gold four lakh bars of gold some of it belongs to Britain the rest belongs to other central banks they keep it in London for safekeeping but why in London why not in the home country because London is one of the most important gold markets in the world say you want to pledge your gold or you want to sell it and raise money then London offers you liquidity New York is another important gold market which is why the Federal Reserve is also a safekeeping Vault they too store foreign gold now to question number three why has India brought it back for starters you can save a lot of money the bank of England does not store your gold for free they charge a fee now you don't have to pay it secondly it boosts sovereignity if you hold your reserves abroad there is always a risk what if the relations sour what if your reserves are seized and there are many such examples Russia had some has some $300 billion of reserves stored in the west all of it has been frozen after the Ukraine war meaning Russia cannot access its own wealth $300 billion Afghanistan is another example their total reserves are worth 9.5 billion doar around 70% % of this is held in the US so when the Taliban came to power the Americans froze this money Kabul still does not have access to the reserves now I'm not saying that India and Britain will fall out or that India's goal will be frozen but it's always safer to keep it at home plus there is an emotional angle in the 1990s India had to shift gold abroad every Indian knows what that feels like gold has a sentimental value here pledging it or selling it is a last resort but in the '90s India had no option but to do it which is why bringing the gold back is a symbolic move like exorcising those demons and it's been a gradual Journey for India in 2009 New Delhi made the first step it brought 200 tons of gold it bought 200 tons of gold from the international monetary fund it cost us around $6.7 billion again the idea was the same to diversify and consolidate India's reserves 15 years later another move has been made now what will happen to this gold the 100 tons that has been brought in well the RBI has its own gold vaults one is in the Mumbai Office the other is in nagpur so the 100 tons of gold will be sto stored there it's a vote of confidence in the Indian economy our foreign reserves are near a record high they stand at $464 billion that's enough for 11 months of imports which is why the RBI is confident they don't foresee the need to pledge or sell this gold hence the decision to bring it back I guess combined with the GDP numbers it's one of the best days for India's economy first post reports from the world's second largest continent hello I'm Allison lrange a very warm welcome from Durban South Africa we get you the news and the newsmakers from Africa South Africa goes to the polls on the 29th of May I will track the election and bring you ground reports is it the end of the road for the African National Congress and will former president Jacob Zuma stage a dramatic comeback from elections to climate change to Innovations and opportunities as the world's attention shifts we report from Africa the heart of the global South join me every weekday live on first [Music] pose for

Channel: Firstpost

Views: 1,764,722

Keywords: firstpost, vantage, palki sharma, vantage palki sharma, first post, firstpost palki sharma, rbi indian gold, rbi gold in uk, reserve bank of india, reserve bank of india gold, india gold reserves 2024, india gold reserves, rbi gold news today, rbi gold uk, rbi gold reserve, rbi gold news, rbi gold in england, bank of england, india gold bank of england, bank of england india gold, rbi shift gold, rbi shift gold london, rbi gold india, rbi gold england bank, rbi gold england

Id: IG_pIvGW4qE

Length: 6min 12sec (372 seconds)

Published: Fri May 31 2024