Special aircraft, high-level security: How RBI, Centre executed secret mission for gold's ghar wapsi

The Bank of England holds around 400,000 bars (around 5,350 tonnes) of gold in its nine underground vaults, the central bank said on its website

Reserve Bank of India has shifted 102 tonnes of gold from the vaults of Bank of England to secure locations back home, Times of India reported on October 30.

This was the second time since May that the central bank shipped the yellow metals from the underground vaults in London because of rising geopolitical tensions, the report said. The RBI moved around 100 million tonnes of gold from England, and had planned for more such shipments, TOI had said in May.

The central bank holds a total of 855 tonnes of gold, out of which around 510.5 tonnes are held inside the country, TOI said citing the latest report on forex reserves management. Since 2022, some 214 tonnes of the precious metal has been transferred to the country as growing global concerns made the RBI and the government jittery. Top government officials felt it was safer to hold the yellow metal safe at home, TOI said.

According to the newspaper, this was the first major transfer since the 1990s when gold moved out of the country due to the balance of payment crisis.

But how was the mission of ‘gold wapsi’ undertaken?

The mission was executed jointly by the RBI and the government, with the help of a special aircraft and detailed security arrangement to move the yellow metal, TOI said. There could be more movements likely in future, authorities told the daily.

World’s gold locker

India currently has 324 tonnes of gold in the Bank of England and the Bank of International Settlement, which holds most of the yellow metal in the UK, the paper said, adding that around 20 tonnes are kept in the form of gold deposits.

India currently has 324 tonnes of gold in Bank of England and the Bank of International Settlement, which holds most of the yellow metal in the UK

The Bank of England holds around 400,000 bars (around 5,350 tonnes) of gold in its nine underground vaults, the central bank said on its website. It holds gold reserves of the United Kingdom and several other central banks around the world, providing easy access to liquidity of the gold market of London.

The vaults are within the basements of the British central bank’s headquarters in London. It is also the second-largest custodian of gold after the Federal Reserve Bank of New York.

The underground vaults were first developed in 1697 and expanded later.