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India now wants its gold under its own lock and key
From The Times of India, Mumbai
Friday, May 1, 2026
Gold is quietly slipping back into national vaults across the world. What once sat comfortably in London and New York is now being packed up, shipped, and locked away closer to home.
Behind this movement is not a gold rush, but a question of trust. Who really holds your wealth when global economy -- or politics -- gets rough?
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India is moving faster than most, pulling most of its gold back under its own roof. And it is doing so in a world where even advanced economies are beginning to ask whether distance is safety or risk.
After it began repatriation of gold a few years ago, India's central bank has sharply accelerated the return of its gold reserves. According to the Reserve Bank of India's Half-Yearly Report on Management of Foreign Exchange Reserves (October 2025-March 2026), about 77% of India's 880.52 metric tonnes of gold is now stored domestically. That means roughly 680 tonnes sit inside India, while around 197.67 tonnes remain with the Bank of England and the Bank for International Settlements. Another 2.8 tonnes are held as deposits.
The speed of this shift is striking. In just six months the RBI brought back 104.23 tonnes, reducing overseas holdings significantly. In March 2023 only 37% of India's gold was stored domestically. The change since then has been steady but clearly accelerating. This pivot could be due to a changing global risk environment, especially after the Russia-Ukraine war and the freezing of Afghanistan's reserves by Western powers.
Those episodes, involving G7 countries restricting access to sovereign assets, have reshaped how central banks think about custody. Gold under one's own thumb also means ready liquidity, which is of great importance in case of global economic crises.
Ritesh Jain of Pinetree Macro told The Times: "In a world where the global monetary system is breaking down, I firmly believe that if gold is not in your possession, then it is not your gold. India is not an outlier here. Many countries are repatriating their gold from London and New York."
That idea now sits at the heart of India's strategy. Gold is no longer merely a balance-sheet asset but something closer to strategic insurance, and insurance works only if you can actually access it. India's broader reserve mix reinforces this shift. Gold now makes up about 16.7% of total foreign exchange reserves, up from 13.9% just months earlier, even as overall reserves declined to $691.1 billion. The direction is clearly of putting more weight on gold and exercising more control over where it sits. ...
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