The Reserve Bank of India ramped up its gold reserves to 879.58 metric tonnes as of March 31, 2025—an increase of 57.48 tonnes over the previous year, the central bank's annual report for 2024-25 said on Thursday.
The value of these reserves soared by 57%, driven by fresh purchases, higher gold prices, and rupee depreciation.
Of the total gold held by the RBI, 311.38 metric tonnes is held as an asset of the issue department as compared to 308.03 metric tonnes as of March 31, 2024. The remaining 568.20 metric tonnes is treated as an asset of the banking department, against 514.07 metric tonnes a year ago.
Therefore, the value of gold, including gold deposits held as assets, increased by 57% from Rs 4.31 lakh crore as of the end of March.
Gold holdings and domestic and foreign investments also led to an increase on the asset side for the central bank. Domestic assets constituted 25.73%, while foreign currency assets, gold and others constituted 74.27% of total assets. Therefore, the RBI's balance sheet expanded 8.2% on year to Rs 76.25 lakh crore as of March 31, 2025.
“This increase is on account of the addition of 54.13 metric tonnes of gold and also due to the increase in the price of gold and depreciation of INR vis-à-vis USD,” the annual report said.
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