The Hindu : National : ‘RBI’s gold buying has its own sentimental value’

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‘RBI’s gold buying has its own sentimental value’

NEW DELHI: The government on Tuesday said the Reserve Bank of India’s move to buy 200 tonnes of gold from the multilateral lending agency, International Monetary Fund (IMF), provided a healing touch to the nation’s pride that was dented about two decades ago when the country sold its gold for a few hundred million dollars.

Significant

Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee said one should not read much into the RBI’s purchase of gold from the IMF, but added it was significant as it recalled the days when India’s sentiments were outraged. “It has much more significance because for many of you it is not the remote past...how the sentiments of the country felt outraged when we had to pledge gold to the Bank of England just for borrowing few hundred million dollars to maintain our essential import requirement,” Mr. Mukherjee said at the Economic Editors’ Conference here.

Yashwant Sinha’s take

When contacted, Yashwant Sinha, Finance Minister in the Chandra Shekhar Cabinet, alleged that the then government had to pledge 20 tonnes of gold because of “profligacy” by the former Rajiv Gandhi government and “inaction” by the previous V.P. Singh government that led to the balance of payments problems. — PTI

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