In 1933, amid the Great Depression, President Franklin D Roosevelt issued Executive Order 6102, effectively confiscating most privately held American citizens’ gold to bolster US Fed reserves and reflate the economy at below market prices. Americans largely complied — partly out of patriotism, partly out of fear of stiff penalties. The result? The US Federal Reserve became (and remains) the world’s largest official holder of gold, a cornerstone of US national financial strength.

Contrast that with India in 1968. Finance Minister Morarji Desai, a staunch Gandhian, enacted the Gold Control Act to stem a crippling foreign-exchange drain after the 1962 China war and 1965 Pakistan war. Private ownership of gold bars and coins was banned; holdings had to be converted into jewellery and declared. Goldsmiths and dealers faced strict limits.…