Did India Plan to Monetise Temple Gold? Finance Ministry Clarifies

Recently, Prime Minister Narendra Modi urged the nation to hold off on purchasing gold, and right after the government raised the import duty on the metal from 6% to 15%. Speculation quickly mounted that the Centre was eyeing the vast gold reserves held by temples and other religious trusts — either through bond issuance or a formal monetisation scheme.

Various reports also suggested that gold plates adorning temple towers, doors and other structures could be designated as strategic gold reserves of India.

However, the Finance Ministry moved to quash the misinformation circulating on social media, denying reports that the government is planning to issue gold bonds to temples or monetise gold holdings of religious institutions across the country.

"Speculation and rumours suggesting that the Government is planning to introduce a monetisation scheme for Gold held by temple trusts, or any religious institution, across the country are completely false, misleading and without any basis," the ministry said.

How It Started

The rumours appear to have drawn likely on two existing but unrelated government schemes. Sovereign Gold Bonds — government securities denominated in grams of gold and issued by the Reserve Bank of India on behalf of the government — were first introduced in November 2015. The scheme was discontinued in 2024, having proved costly to the exchequer, though bonds already issued remain valid.

Separately, the Gold Monetisation Scheme, announced in September 2015, was designed to bring idle gold held by households and institutions into productive use and reduce India's dependence on gold imports. It consolidated two older programmes — the Gold Deposit Scheme and the Gold Metal Loan scheme — into a single framework. However, neither of these schemes seemed to have any bearing on temple gold, and nor ministry suggested any proposal to that effect has been approved or is under consideration.

The government is doubling down on dismantling rumours and misinformation amid supply chain uncertainty across the world. A few days ago, PM Modi himself fact-checked a news report that suggested that the government was considering levying a tax or a cess or a surcharge on foreign travel but no final decision had been taken yet.