The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) was the third largest buyer of gold in the world in May. According to the World Gold Council, India bought gold worth about Rs 722 crore last month. Only Switzerland and China bought more gold than India. In the last 5 financial years, India increased its gold reserve by about 204 tonnes of gold. In March 2019, the country’s gold reserve was 618.2 tonnes, which increased by 33% to 822.1 tonnes on 31 March 2024. However, gold prices have increased by about 70% during this period. Due to rising gold prices, the average daily trading volume in the global gold market last month was Rs 18 lakh crore. This is 13% less than April 2024, but 32.51% more than the average of Rs 13.6 lakh crore per day in 2023. Gold prices increased for the third consecutive month in May, but fell on Friday. But on Friday, the price of jewellery gold (22 carat) in the country fell by Rs 773 per 10 grams to Rs 65,872. The price of 24 carat gold also fell by Rs 844 as compared to Thursday to Rs 71,913 per 10 grams. Net investment in Gold ETF started after 12 months. Switzerland bought the maximum amount of gold worth Rs 2,461 crore. Source: World Gold Council
