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Anand Mahindra shared a childhood memory from the 1962 India-China war, recalling how people donated gold and jewellery to support the nation.
Anand Mahindra’s post reflected India’s unity and trust in tough times. (Photo Credits: X)
Mahindra Group Chairman Anand Mahindra shared a touching childhood memory from the 1962 India-China war. He recalled how, during that time, people across the country came forward to donate their gold and jewellery to the National Defence Fund. For him, it was not just an act of patriotism but a symbol of India’s unity and trust in difficult times.
Mahindra shared the story after a social media post mentioned that Indian women together hold around 24,000 to 25,000 tonnes of gold, more than what countries like the USA or Germany possess. Responding to this, he wrote, “Impressive statistic,” and then shared how deeply he remembered the moment when citizens showed unmatched generosity more than sixty years ago.
Anand Mahindra Recalls a Childhood Memory
In his post on X, Mahindra wrote, “Back in 1962, during the war with China, the government created a National Defence Fund and appealed to citizens to donate gold and jewellery for the defence effort.” He said that according to historical data, gold worth thousands of crores in today’s value was collected. “Punjab alone, apparently donated 252 kg of gold,” he added.
He also shared a vivid memory from when he was seven years old. “I clearly recall, as a seven-year-old, standing on the street in Mumbai (Bombay, at the time) with my mother when government trucks drove by, megaphones blaring appeals for citizens to donate their jewellery for the nation’s defence. I can still picture her quietly gathering some of her gold bangles and necklaces, placing them in a cloth thaila, and handing them to the volunteers on the truck,” he said.
Reflecting on that time, he wondered if such large-scale voluntary generosity could happen again. “Would voluntary acts of that scale, spirit and trust still happen in today’s world?” he asked, adding that “a country’s national resilience ultimately depends not just on policy tools, but on the collective will of its people.”
Impressive statistic.It brought back to me a vivid childhood memory:
Back in 1962, during the war with China, the government created a National Defence Fund and appealed to citizens to donate gold and jewellery for the defence effort. From information available on the net I… https://t.co/VR9ydAacOc
— anand mahindra (@anandmahindra) October 23, 2025
RBI’s Gold Reserves Continue to Grow
According to the Reserve Bank of India’s latest bulletin, the country’s gold reserves have crossed 880 metric tonnes in the first half of 2025-26. The RBI added 0.2 metric tonnes in the last week of September, bringing the total value of its gold holdings to about USD 95 billion as of September 26.
In the six months up to September, the RBI purchased 0.6 metric tonnes of gold, compared to 54 metric tonnes during 2024-25. Globally, central banks added 166 tonnes of gold to their reserves, helping keep prices high as gold touched new record levels in September.
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