Oil price surge triggers speculation of "selling gold to save the market"? India's central bank remains firm: gold proportion not decreasing but rising

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) stated that reports of its selling gold are "not true" and pointed out that data shows the physical gold holdings remain unchanged. The latest data from the RBI's monthly bulletin shows that the physical gold inventory in April remained stable at 880.52 tons. The bank stated in a statement on Wednesday that as of that day, the gold inventory remained at this level. Additionally, a post by the Press Information Bureau (PIB) on the X platform stated that as of March 31, the proportion of gold in India's foreign exchange reserves increased from around 14% at the end of September last year to 16.7%. However, according to an economic research report released by the media on Tuesday, it is estimated that the RBI may have sold about $12 billion worth of gold reserves and purchased $7.5 billion worth of foreign exchange assets in the two weeks ending May 22. The latest data as of the end of March shows that about 77% of India's gold reserves are held domestically by the RBI, higher than the 66% in September last year. The clash between official denial and institutional predictions stems from the recent currency defense battle facing India. Due to escalating tensions in the Middle East leading to high oil prices, India, as a major oil importer, is facing capital outflows, with the rupee reaching a historic low against the dollar recently. The media speculated that the central bank selling gold to buy foreign exchange was to supplement dollar cash reserves for intervention in the currency market; however, the central bank quickly clarified that this was to prevent market misinterpretation of its asset allocation and prevent panic in the rupee and gold markets. Furthermore, India's trend of bringing back nearly 80% of its gold "domestically" once again confirms the deep consideration of asset security by emerging market central banks in the wave of de-dollarization.