Central Bank buying is the main factor supporting Gold prices to trade above $2000 in the last few months. Central banks around the world have been buying gold with both hands for the last 2-3 years as they want to diversify their reserves out of Dollar to other asset classes.
The Reserve Bank of India has been actively buying around 40 tonnes of gold every year for the last six years. India now stands at ninth position in terms of gold reserves with holdings over 800 tonnes in 2023. India’s central bank has surpassed the central banks of the Netherlands, Turkey, the UK, and Saudi Arabia in terms of gold reserves lately.
As estimated by the World Gold Council, here are the current rankings of gold reserves by country in Q3, 2023.
| Rank & Country | Gold Reserve (in tonnes) | Gold Reserve (in $ millions) & Holdings in % |
| United States of America | 8,133.46 | 489,133.74 (68.22%) |
| Germany | 3,352.65 | 201,623.07 (67.34%) |
| Italy | 2,451.84 | 147,449.64 (64.41%) |
| France | 2,436.88 | 146,551.80 (66.09%) |
| Russian Federation | 2,332.74 | 140,287.50 (24.67%) |
| China | 2,191.53 | 131,795.43 (3.98%) |
| Switzerland | 1,040.00 | 62,543.91 (7.65%) |
| Japan | 845.97 | 50,875.51 (4.11%) |
| India | 800.78 | 48,157.71 (8.13%) |
| Netherlands | 612.45 | 36,832.02 (56.06%) |
| Turkey | 478.97 | 28,804.60 (27.38%) |
| Taiwan (POC) | 423.63 | 25,476.21 (4.38%) |
| Uzbekistan | 383.81 | 23,081.97 (74.4%) |
| Portugal | 382.63 | 23,010.89 (70.73%) |
| Poland | 333.71 | 20,068.84 (11.15% |
| Saudi Arabia | 323.07 | 16,933.64 (4.3) |
| United Kingdom | 310.29 | 18,660.18 (10.95%) |
| Kazakhstan | 309.38 | 18,605.42 (58.36%) |
| Lebanon | 286.83 | 17,249.75 (54.45%) |
| Spain | 281.58 | 17,311.60 (17.25%) |