World
India's 197-Tonne London Balance Earns Interest
The Reserve Bank of India brought 168 tonnes home from the Bank of England in FY26, its third straight year above 100 tonnes. The 197 tonnes left in London earn interest as a gold-lending book.
India's central bank brought 168 metric tonnes of gold home from Bank of England custody in FY26, its third consecutive year repatriating above 100 tonnes.
In 1991, India airlifted gold to London to secure a $400 million emergency loan. These transfers run that transaction in reverse.
Washington and Brussels froze $300 billion in Russian central bank assets in 2022. German parliamentarians renewed the Bundesbank repatriation debate within weeks, citing the same custody risk. The RBI moved more quietly, and in the same direction.
As of March 2026, the RBI holds 680.05 of its 880.52 total tonnes in domestic vaults in Mumbai and Nagpur. In March 2023, 437.22 tonnes were overseas and 301.10 at home. Three years of transfers shifted that ratio from 59% foreign to 77% domestic.
Gold now represents 16.7% of India's total foreign exchange reserves, up from 9% in September 2024. Price appreciation accounts for part of that rise; the RBI has continued accumulating outright.
India is now the most active repatriator among major central banks. The Bundesbank completed its 674-tonne programme in 2017, clearing Paris entirely and moving 300 tonnes from New York, but has not touched its 432-tonne Bank of England allocation since. It now keeps 37% at the NY Fed and 13% at the Bank of England, maintaining half its reserves at major trading centers.
Turkey completed its foreign repatriation in the same period and has since accumulated outright, reaching 623.92 tonnes today. The PBOC added 44 tonnes in 2024, reaching 2,296 tonnes, with almost nothing held abroad.
Gold held at the BoE can be lent to bullion banks through deposit arrangements, earning the central bank the lease rate on the principal. Those same BoE accounts clear loco London transactions, including the gold swaps the BIS offers its central bank clients.
The deposit yield changes the math on full withdrawal. Gold held at the BoE earns the lease rate through bullion-bank lending arrangements, historically between 0.1 and 1.0% annually, elevated further through 2025. At the post-2010 average of 0.24%, 197 tonnes worth roughly $20 billion implies about $48 million annually; domestic vaults earn nothing on gold at rest.
At FY26's pace, the remaining 197 tonnes clear London by May 2027. The RBI's annual report, typically released in late June, discloses income from gold deposits separately from custody costs. Any receipts on that line change the destination.