With a rumour over the social media and WhatsApp group on the move to trade in gold follows transfer of Rs 1.76 lakh crore of RBI’s surplus to the Modi government.
The Reserve Bank of India has issued a clarification that it has not sold/traded gold of late, reported ANI. The notification comes in the wake of news reports which claimed that the central bank has taken this unprecedented decision to sell off its reserve gold to plug revenue shortfall. WhatsApp forwards are also doing the rounds that this is the first time in 30 years that the RBI has to sell gold. Especially after the RBI transferred Rs 1.76 lakh crore of RBI’s surplus to the central government.
Following the recommendations of the committee headed by Bimal Jalan, RBI has ended up selling $1.15 billion worth of gold till now. It has also bought gold worth $5.1 billion since July, 2019. RBI had 1.987 million ounces of gold till August. As per the report, Gold valued at $26.7 billion was held in the, Forex Reserve as on October 11.
The Bimal Jalan-led committee’s advice involves not sharing the valuation gain in gold with the government but sharing profits with the government from trading in the precious metal. The Jalan committee was constituted in 2019 to look into ways RBI could step in to plug the government’s revenue shortfall. Incidentally, the Jalan Committee had also recommended transfer of the RBI’s surplus to the Centre, following which Rs 1.76 lakh crore was transferred to the Modi government.
Refuting reports that RBI is selling its gold reserve first time in 30 years, the central bank claimed that the fluctuation is because of the change in frequency of revaluation from monthly to weekly basis.
