India's central bank said it does not plan to convert the country's idle gold to bullion. The Federal Reserve Bank of India made the clarification in a statement.
Earlier Reuters reported that the Indian central bank had planned to close the gap on its current account deficit by asking the banks to purchase household gold. They would then turn this over to precious metal refiners for conversion to bullion. The move would also help shore up the country's domestic gold supply.
The Economic Times, on the other hand, reported that the Indian central bank would include the gold in the country's temple trusts in its plan. The bank, however, belied the reports.
In a statement, RBI said, "There have been some news stories in the media in the last couple of days about the Reserve Bank of India discussing/considering various options of converting idle gold, including that available with temple trusts, into bullion. The Reserve Bank clarifies that no such proposal is under its consideration at this juncture."
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