Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman Hails SPMCIL’s Role In Converting Seized Gold Into RBI Reserves

At the inauguration of SPMCIL’s new corporate office, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman lauded the organization's progress in refining and assaying precious metals. She highlighted a key policy shift post-Budget 2021, directing smuggled gold to be refined by SPMCIL and added to RBI’s gold reserves instead of being auctioned. In FY 2024-25 alone, 3.4 metric tons of such refined gold were delivered to RBI. She praised SPMCIL’s transformation since 2015, noting full loan repayment by 2016-17 and consistent financial performance, including dividends of ₹534 crore (2022-23) and ₹364 crore (2023-24). She also hinted at its potential upgrade to Navratna status.