India, June 3 -- The Centre on Wednesday dismissed reports suggesting that the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) had sold gold reserves worth USD 12 billion to strengthen the country's foreign exchange reserves.

The clarification came after a Bloomberg report claimed that the central bank may have reduced part of its gold holdings to protect its foreign-currency reserves from the impact of the ongoing conflict in West Asia.

In a press release issued on Wednesday, India's central bank rejected media reports claiming that it had sold gold reserves worth roughly $12 billion to protect its foreign-currency assets.

"The RBI emphasises that these reports are not correct," it said.

The bank also said that the physical stock of gold remains unchang...