Mumbai, May 5 (PTI) The RBI added nearly 25 tonne of gold to its reserves in the second half of FY25, a period which saw a rally in the prices of the precious metal, official data released on Monday showed.

The central bank now holds 879.59 tonne of gold in its reserves as against 854.73 metric tonne it held at end-September 2024.

In FY25, the central bank added over 57 tonne of gold to its reserves, in a period which saw a 30 per cent rally in the prices of the precious metal. This is the largest yearly addition in the last seven years.

The quantum of the precious metal stored locally grew marginally to 511.99 tonne, as per the Half Yearly Report on Management of Foreign Exchange Reserves by the central bank.

Apart from the gold stored in vaults locally, 348.62 tonne was in safe custody of Bank of England and Bank for International Settlements (BIS) and 18.98 tonne was held in the form of gold deposits.

It can be noted that in the first half of FY25, the RBI had moved a larger quantum of gold to local vaults. The overall quantity of the precious metal stored in local safes stood at 510.46 tonne as of September 30, which was up from over 408 tonne on March 31, 2024.

The movement of the commodity, happening at a time of increased geopolitical tensions globally, was said to be one of the biggest movements of gold undertaken by India since 1991, when it had to pledge a substantial part of the gold holding to tide over a foreign exchange crisis that resulted in its movement out of vaults.

Share of gold in the total foreign exchange reserves increased to 11.70 per cent as at end-March 2025 from 9.32 per cent six months ago, the report said.

The overall forex reserves decreased to USD 668.33 billion in March 2025 from USD 705.78 billion at end-September 2024, the report said.

These reserves are sufficient to cover 10.5 months of imports now, down from the 11.8 months in September 2024. PTI AA ANU ANU

Gold reserves increase reshapes reserve composition and raises gold's share despite a decline in overall forex reserves. The central bank increased its gold holdings by nearly 25 tonnes in the second half and by over 57 tonnes in FY25, shifting reserve composition. The report separates locally vaulted gold, custodial holdings with international institutions, and gold deposits, and notes an increased share of gold within total foreign exchange reserves even as overall reserves fell and months-of-import coverage declined.