Page 40 - Bullion World Issue 01 Volume 06 January_2026

Bullion World | Volume 6 | Issue 01 | January 2026

The real inflection comes after the mid 2010s. From around 2015 onward, the RBI moved from a largely static
stance to steady accumulation, adding gold almost every year and building a far larger monetary stock. This
turning point coincided with a parallel policy innovation on the household side: the launch of the Sovereign
Gold Bond (SGB) scheme in late 2015, offering dematerialised, interest bearing exposure to gold while easing
pressure on physical imports. Together, these moves created a two tier architecture in which the central bank
quietly strengthened its gold backstop even as savers were nudged toward financialised gold, aligning domestic
savings behaviour with macro level reserve strategy.

Chart 3: India – Gold Reserves and Gold Share of Total Reserves (2000–2024) - bars for tonnes (LHS) and line
for gold as % of reserves (RHS).

Initiation of SGB
Pride Restored

By the first half of the 2020s, India’s approach had matured into a model of “quiet confidence” in metal. Gold in
RBI reserves rose both in tonnes and as a share of the portfolio between 2020 and 2024, even as overall foreign
exchange reserves touched new highs. In effect, India blended its deep cultural affinity for gold with a modern,
risk aware reserve framework: bullion is no longer a legacy holding but a deliberately scaled instrument of
monetary resilience, sitting alongside the dollar and other currencies as part of a diversified shield against market
and geopolitical shocks.
The Turning Point: Gold’s Modern
Growth in India's Foreign Exchange Reserves and Gold Holdings (2000–2024)
Comeback: Aggressive monetary
2000 2024 Growth Growth % easing, swelling balance sheets, and
Total Reserve in 41059.06 643042.6 601983.5 1466% questions about long term fiat stability
million forced policymakers to reassess what
Gold in million 3156.82 73498.28 70341.46 2228% “safe” actually means. At the same
Gold in tons 357.76 876.18 518.42 145% time, geopolitical realignments and
Gold as % Reserve 7.7% 11.4% the growing use of financial sanctions
highlighted the vulnerabilities of relying
too heavily on a narrow set of reserve
Growth in India's Foreign Exchange Reserves and Gold Holdings (2020–2024) currencies. Market crises - from the 2008
2020.0 2024 Growth Growth % meltdown to pandemic era disruptions
Total Reserve in 590151 643043 52891 9% - repeatedly confirmed gold’s defensive
million utility. What emerged was not nostalgia
Gold in million 41064 73498 32434 79% for a bygone gold standard, but a
Gold in tons 677 876 200 29% conscious recalibration toward tangible,
Gold as % Reserve 7.0% 11.4% politically neutral assets that can anchor
confidence when paper promises are
questioned.

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