Gold holdings of 3 Kerala companies stand at over 263 tonnes. This is more than Australia's gold reserves

The gold holdings of three Kerala companies- Muthoot Finance, Manappuram Finance and Muthoot Fincorp-are more than gold reserves of some of the richest nations such as Australia, Sweden, Singapore, etc.

The gold holdings of these three gold loan companies in Kerala grew from 195 tonnes two years ago to nearly 263 tonnes towards the end of September 2016.

In last two years, gold holdings of Muthoot Finance went up from 116 tonnes to 150 tonnes. It now holds more yellow metal in its vaults than the reserves of Singapore (127.4 tonnes), Sweden (125.7 tonnes), Australia (79.9 tonnes), Kuwait (79 tonnes), Denmark (66.5 tonnes) and Finland (49.1 tonnes).

Manappuram Finance has 65.9 tonnes and Muthoot Fincorp 46.88 tonnes. The combined holdings of the three are 262.78 tonnes.

As per World Gold Council, India has the 11th largest gold reserves at 558 tonnes. The US heads the pack with 8,134 tonnes, while Germany and IMF come next (3,378 and 2,814 tonnes, respectively).

The demand for gold in India is quite high as families find it trusted source of insurance.