18 Mar 2014 Last updated at 08:19:41 GMT
NEW DELHI (Scrap Monster): The half yearly report on foreign exchange reserves released by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) suggests that the total value of bank’s forex reserves in gold fell by 15% between March and September last year. The yield on gold reserves fell by 2 basis points during the period.
Gold constitutes a significant share of the country’s foreign exchange reserve in India. By value gold accounted for $25.692 billion in March last year. The value of gold with the RBI during end-September was $21.765 billion, falling by 15.28% over a period of six months. As per the report, gold accounted for about 8% of the total value of foreign exchange reserves as on end-September. The yield on gold reserves fell in accordance with the low interest rates across developed countries.
The country’s foreign currency assets as of end-September totaled $248.8 billion, 63% of which was invested in securities. The deposits with other central banks, Bank for International Settlements (BIS) and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) constituted 35%. The balance 2% was placed with foreign commercial banks and external asset managers.
The rate of earnings on foreign currency assets fell to 1.45% during the one-year period from July 2012 to June 2013. This represents a fall of 1.36% over the year. The rate of earnings on foreign currency assets during the period from July 2011 to June 2012 was 1.47%.