The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has increased its gold purchases, as part of its foreign exchange (forex) reserves. In the first half (H1) of calendar year 2021 (CY21), the addition of gold to India's forex reserves has been the highest - on a half-yearly basis -at 29 tonnes. Now, the RBI's gold holding - as a proportion of its forex reserves - has for the first time crossed 700 tonnes.
The government is considering blocking internet protocol (IP) addresses of companies/exchanges on which trading in cryptocurrencies is happening, said a source in the know. Two months ago, the government had said it intended to bring a Bill to ban private cryptocurrencies and introduce India's own digital currency in line with what China and other countries had done. This move is part of that. The government had also proposed to promote technology like blockchain. Industry, however, says banning decentralised currencies like bitcoin and ethereum is not possible.
Bitcoin has been on fire ever since Musk announced that Tesla had bought $1.5 billion of the cryptocurrency, and that his electric-vehicle company would accept bitcoin from buyers.
Arundhuti Dasgupta maps a trail from the southernmost tip to its suburbs.
Indian banks have started exploring opportunities in the space, including lending to crypto exchanges, and accepting bitcoins as collateral, among others.
Experts recommend buying gold as the fundamentals supporting a rally have not changed.
Any shift in investor sentiment may result in speculators fleeing the gold market, driving its price down sharply, quickly. One significant risk for gold is a near-term reversal in the dollar, which recently fell to a two-year low.
Those interested in investing in gold have shifted to instruments, such as sovereign gold bonds and gold ETFs. Many others are, in fact, selling gold or using it as collateral to generate short-term liquidity.
The all-time high price of silver is Rs 75,000 a kg, recorded in April 2011.
Instead of its once haloed existence as the year of lofty goals and vision statements, it is now staring at an epitaph that may well read: The year when death ran amok and the gods went missing, notes Arundhuti Dasgupta.
The government has sold SGBs worth Rs 1,990 crore in April and May alone.
Silver has been quoting at a premium in India since mid-March because of huge scarcity.
It plans to use it as collateral, along with forex reserves, to print currency.
Gold and silver became costlier in the country following the international price rise over the expectations of negative interest rates in the US, the rising trade tensions between the US and China and the weakening of the rupee.
Industry estimates over 30 tonnes of gold were sold on Akshaya Tritiya this time.
Arundhuti Dasgupta on the anxiety and logistical challenges of caring for elderly parents during lockdown, especially if they are ailing and live away from you.
'With doctors going up against a seemingly invincible enemy, often at immense risk to their lives, the myths reveal an interesting relationship between the men of medicine and the rest of humankind,' notes Arundhuti Dasgupta.
There have been several instances of traders dumping fruits and vegetables outside mandis. Or of farmers dumping produce outside their villages or feeding them to their animals.
The month of March could be worst in many years, with imports estimated only around 18 tonnes amid the coronavirus pandemic and the nationwide lockdown, said an industry player. The import in March 2019 was 72.5 tonnes, according to the GFMS data.
In this lockdown, no matter how many similarities the memory dredges up from past events and associations, there is one thing that has no precedent: The isolation that it has imposed on people, reports Arundhuti Dasgupta.
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