In 2019 Somasundaram PR, the World Gold Council’s managing director for India, put the gold held by Indian households at “around 23,000-24,000 tonnes.” The figure came from a study made two years earlier. In 2025 Morgan Stanley estimated household gold at about 34,600 tonnes, worth 3.8 trillion dollars.
Gold to the Bank of England
During the economic crisis of 1991, India pledged its gold as collateral. In April it borrowed 200 million dollars from the Union Bank of Switzerland against 20 tonnes of gold. It then shipped 47 tonnes of gold to the Bank of England.
On May 29, 2026, India’s foreign exchange reserves stood at 682.3 billion dollars. The Governor of the Reserve Bank of India said they covered about 11 months of imports.
Wealth for Hard Times
Aapadarthe dhanam rakshet. Save wealth for times of distress. The line opens verse 6 of the first chapter of the Chanakya Niti, a book of maxims attributed to Chanakya. A Hindi rendering reads: vipatti ke samay kaam aane vaale dhan ki raksha kare. Guard the wealth that will serve in times of trouble.
Buffer Norms
The Food Corporation of India was set up in 1965 “against the backdrop of major shortage of grains, especially wheat, in the country.” The government’s economic glossary defines a buffer stock as “a reserve of a commodity that is used to offset price fluctuations and unforeseen emergencies.”
The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs “fixes the minimum buffer norms on quarterly basis.” A government release of 2022 gives the norm for October 1: 205 lakh tonnes of wheat and 103 lakh tonnes of rice.
Savings from the Household Budget
In November 2016 the government withdrew the 500 and 1,000 rupee notes. Cash had to be deposited in banks. In February 2017 Sushil Chandra, chairman of the Central Board of Direct Taxes, said: “As the Prime Minister has clearly said that (for deposits) up to Rs 2.5 lakh we will not ask (questions).”
In 2021 the Income Tax Appellate Tribunal in Agra ruled that cash deposits by housewives of up to 2.5 lakh rupees were not income. “Women all over the country, had been accumulating cash that they had saved for themselves from household budgets,” it said.
Maximizing Options
External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar spoke at the Aravalli Summit of the School of International Studies at Jawaharlal Nehru University. He described India’s approach as “maximising my options, maintaining my freedom of choices.” Answering a student, he said that “the case for multi-alignment or strategic autonomy actually becomes stronger, not weaker.” Business Today reported the speech on October 7, 2025.
Her Absolute Property
On April 24, 2024, the Supreme Court decided Maya Gopinathan v. Anoop S.B. It held that the gifts a bride receives at her marriage from her parents, her husband and relatives are her stridhan. The court repeated an earlier ruling: “It is her absolute property with all rights to dispose at her own pleasure.”
Her husband has no control over it. “He may use it during the time of his distress,” the judgment notes, but he then has a moral duty to return it or its value.
Burned by Milk
Doodh ka jala chhaachh bhi phoonk phoonk kar peeta hai. One who has been burned by milk blows even on buttermilk before drinking it. The Rekhta dictionary explains it in Hindi: once deceived, a person becomes careful for the future.
The Inverter
When the power fails, many Indian homes switch to an inverter, a battery that keeps the lights and fans running. In an online survey by LocalCircles, released in May 2022, 41 percent of respondents said they had an inverter or a similar device and used it during outages. Twelve percent said they had no backup and simply lived with the outage.
The respondents chose to take part, so the figures are not a national count.
Failure-Based Design
In 2019, the lander of Chandrayaan-2 crashed on the Moon. Before Chandrayaan-3 was launched in July 2023, ISRO’s chairman, S. Somanath, explained what had changed. “Instead of a success-based design, we are doing a failure-based design in Chandrayaan-3,” he said. “What all can fail, and how to protect it? This is the approach we have taken.”
Chandrayaan-3 landed near the Moon’s south pole on August 23, 2023.