The value of gold reserves of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has currently reached about Rs 11 lakh crore. Due to the sharp rise in gold prices in the global market and the weakness of the rupee against the dollar, the price of RBI’s gold reserves has increased by about 64% in just one year.
The value of gold held with the issue department of RBI, which supports the currency in circulation, increased by 64.1% from Rs 2,36,537.54 crore to Rs 3,88,147.13 crore. At the same time, the value of gold and gold deposits with the banking department increased by 63.6% from Rs 4,31,624.80 crore to Rs 7,06,162.36 crore.
Value increased by about Rs 2 lakh crore in 2 months
By the end of March 2026, the total value of gold of RBI was Rs 9,42,699 crore, which increased to about Rs 10,98,889 crore i.e. about Rs 11 lakh crore by May 22, 2026. According to RBI, the main reason for this increase is the increase in gold prices in the international market and the weakening of the Indian rupee against the US dollar.
How much gold does RBI have?
According to the annual report of RBI, as of March 31, 2026, it had 880.52 metric tons of gold. A year ago this figure was 879.58 tonnes. That means there was a slight increase of only 0.94 tonnes in the quantity of gold, but a huge jump was seen in the price. After a gap of four months, RBI purchased 0.13 tonnes of gold in January 2026, while no purchase was made in February.
Share of gold in foreign exchange reserves increased
The share of gold in India’s foreign exchange reserves has more than doubled in the last two years. The share of gold in RBI’s Net Foreign Assets (NFA) reached 17.2% by the end of March 2026, which was 12% a year ago. In March 2024 it was only 8.3%.
Out of 880.52 tonnes of gold, 312.32 tonnes is with the issue department, while 568.20 tonnes is kept with the banking department. Of these, 367.73 tonnes of gold has been kept safe in India and 200.47 tonnes abroad.
Gold storage increased in India
RBI has adopted a strategy of keeping more of its gold in India in recent years. Under this, 168.06 metric tons of gold was brought to India in the financial year 2025-26. Earlier, 107.21 tonnes of gold was brought back to India in 2023-24 and 103.68 tonnes in 2024-25.
Foreign exchange reserves also increased
India’s total foreign exchange reserves in rupee terms increased by 14.7% to Rs 65.54 lakh crore by March 31, 2026, from Rs 57.12 lakh crore a year ago. However, in dollar terms this increase was only 3.4% and foreign exchange reserves increased from $668.33 billion to $691.11 billion. By May 22, 2026, it reduced to $681.38 billion.
Experts believe that the rise in gold prices and the weakness of the rupee have played an important role in taking the value of RBI’s gold reserves to a record level.
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