Fact Check: India repatriates 100 tonnes of gold over US tariffs? No, news report is from 2024
It is being claimed that in response to Trump’s tariff, India has brought back its gold reserves from foreign banks.
By Md Mahfooz Alam
Claim:In response to Trump’s tariff, India has brought back its gold reserves from foreign banks.
Fact:The claim is misleading. There is no official announcement or report of India repatriating its gold in response to Trump’s tariff. The news report is from 2024.
Hyderabad: US President Donald Trump has imposed a 50 per cent tariff on most Indian goods, taking effect August 27, as a penalty for India’s continued import of Russian oil. This marks the highest US tariff on any major trading partner. India has condemned the move as ‘unjustified,’ warning of serious harm to its export economy.
In this context, a video showing Times Now Navbharat’s Sushant Sinha reporting that the RBI has brought back about 100 tonnes of its gold reserves from foreign banks to India has been circulating on social media. The Hindi text on the video claims that in response to Trump’s tariff, India has brought back its gold reserves from foreign banks.
A Facebook account shared the video with the caption, “100 tonnes of gold brought to India! A strong reply to Trump | Modi’s masterstroke #IndiaGold #ModiMasterstroke.”
Fact Check
NewsMeter found that the claim is misleading. The Times Now video report is from 2024, and there is also no official announcement or report of India repatriating its gold in response to Trump’s tariff.
A keyword search on the Times Now YouTube channel led us to the same video report that premiered on June 1, 2024.
According to the channel, India had brought back nearly 100 tonnes of gold from Britain to the Reserve Bank of India. The channel also reported that more such transfers may be seen in the coming months. This was the first time since 1991 that such a large quantity of gold had been repatriated to India.
According to the government’s website News On Air, and as reported by The Hindu on May 31, 2024, India transferred 100 metric tonnes of gold from the UK to domestic vaults in FY24, its largest such transfer since 1991.
This brought total gold held in India to over 408 tonnes, nearly matching the 413.79 tonnes kept abroad. The decision, part of a routine review and asset diversification strategy, follows steady gold purchases in recent years. The transfer was carried out secretly by the RBI and government agencies, with the gold now stored in high-security vaults in Mumbai and Nagpur.
Did India respond to the US tariff by bringing back its gold reserves?
We conducted a keyword search using relevant keywords but found no credible news reports that India brought back about 100 tonnes of its gold reserves from foreign vaults to India in response 50 per cent tariff imposed by US President Trump.
We also checked the official websites of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) and the Government of India’s Press Information Bureau (PIB), but found no recent notification regarding the same.
However, according to Money Control’s report of June 26, the Reserve Bank of India repatriated 100.32 metric tonnes of gold from overseas vaults in FY25, raising its domestic gold stock to 200.06 tonnes by March 31.
Overseas holdings fell to 367.60 tonnes, while total gold reserves rose to 879.58 tonnes, up from 822.10 tonnes the previous year. The increase was driven by repatriation, fresh purchases, higher global gold prices and rupee depreciation. The move aims to balance domestic control over reserves with overseas holdings for liquidity and trading needs.
