The issue price of the sovereign gold bond for this tranche was Rs 2,684 per gram. The tenor of the bond will be for a period of eight years with exit option from 5th year to be exercised on the interest payment dates.
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While thousands applied for the subscription of gold bonds worth over Rs. 246 crore in the first tranche, the government’s gold monetisation scheme attracted only a handful of household depositors, prompting authorities to tweak the scheme. A circular is being published to clarify that exemptions on income tax and capital gains tax would be available to the scheme’s customers, the finance ministry said in a statement.
“The Reserve Bank of India will announce the fifth bimonthly monetary policy review, 2015-16 on Tuesday, December 1, 2015 at 11 am by way of press release”, the apex bank said in a release.
The response from retail investors for the Sovereign Gold Bond Scheme (SGB) has picked up speed as 63,000 applications have been received for a total of Rs 246.20 crore by the banks and post offices for 917 kg of gold, the finance ministry said Friday.
“This is an excellent response for an innovative product”, Shaktikanta Das tweeted. As on November 20, only 400 grams of gold were deposited under the scheme, Gem and Jewellery Export Promotion Council’s northern region chairman Anil Sankhwal said. The bonds are being issued by RBI on behalf of the government and will constitute part of the latter’s overall borrowing.
At present, “there are 33 collection and purity testing centres (CPTCs) and five refiners that have been notified in the scheme”.
Also, depositors can give their gold directly to the refiner without involving the Collection and Purity Testing Centres (CPTCs) where ever it is acceptable to the banks.
There are 350,000 jewellers in the country, of which 13,000 are certified by the Bureau of Indian Standards.
When the gold monetization scheme getting “slow response” then the Government has taken few decisions for improving the reach of the scheme.
“This will encourage the bulk depositors like Hindu Undivided Families (HUFs) and institutions to participate in the scheme”, the statement said.
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India meets most of its domestic demand for gold through imports which pressures the country’s current account deficit.
