India’s gold reserve has increased by 57.48 tonnes to 879.58 tonnes in 2024-25. At the same time, India’s economy remains strong and it will remain the fastest growing major economy in the world even in 2025-26. RBI has released its annual report today on 29 May. 8 big things of RBI’s report: 1. Bought 72.6 tonnes of gold in 2024, total reserves 879.58 tonnes RBI bought 72.6 tonnes of gold in 2024 and bought 2.8 tonnes more in the first two months (January-February) of 2025. Now India has a total of 879.58 tonnes of gold, making it the seventh largest gold reserve country in the world. America is at number one, then Germany, Italy, France, China, and Switzerland. 2. Cost of printing notes increased by 25% to Rs 6,372.8 crore The cost of printing notes increased by 25% to Rs 6,372.8 crore in 2024-25, from Rs 5,101.4 crore last year (2023-24). This means that printing notes is getting expensive. It has probably become expensive due to the increase in the cost of paper, ink, and security features. 3. Real GDP growth is estimated to be 6.5% in 2025-26 Real GDP growth is estimated to be 6.5% for 2025-26. Real GDP growth in 2023-24 was 7.6%, which is better than 7.0% last year (2022-23). This is the third consecutive year when the growth was 7% or more. 4. Prices of things will remain under control, inflation may remain at 4% Retail inflation is expected to be 4%, which is within the range of RBI’s target (4% ± 2%). This means that the prices of things will remain under control, which will provide relief to the common people. However, fluctuations in commodity prices globally and irregularity of weather may increase food inflation. 5. Number of bank frauds declined, but amount increased Despite the decline in the number of bank frauds reported in 2024-25, the value of fraud has increased almost three times compared to the previous year. A total of 23,953 cases of fraud were reported during the year, down from 36,060 in 2023-24. However, the amount involved increased from ? 12,230 crore to ? 36,014 crore. 6. Domestic savings increased to 6.1% in 2023-24 Total domestic savings in assets such as shares and debentures, bank deposits, provident funds and pension funds increased from 10.7% of Gross National Disposable Income (GNDI) in 2022-23 to 11.2% in 2023-24. However, financial liabilities of households also increased from 5.8% of GNDI in 2022-23 to 6.1% in 2023-24. 7. RBI balance sheet increased by 8.2% RBI balance sheet increased by 8.2% to Rs 76.25 lakh crore. Income increased by 22.7% to Rs 3.38 lakh crore. Expenditure increased by 7.75% to Rs 69,714 crore. Surplus given to the government increased by 27.3% to Rs 2.68 lakh crore. 8. RBI expressed concern over rising debt In the RBI report “high public debt” has been cited as a major concern. India’s public debt is 81% of the GDP. That is, if the country’s total income (GDP) is Rs 100, then the government debt is Rs 81. This is considered very high.
