Skip to main content

Modi to launch gold schemes on tomorrow

Gold deposited by households to gold savings accounts will be used for auctioning, replenishment of RBI’s gold reserves
Prime Minister Narendra Modi will launch three new schemes — the Gold Monetisation Scheme (GMS), Sovereign Gold Bond Scheme, and the Gold Coin and Bullion Scheme — in New Delhi on Thursday, according to an official Finance Ministry statement.
The GMS consists of a revamped Gold Deposit Scheme and Gold Metal Loan Scheme. Under GMS, gold deposited by households to gold savings accounts will be put to use for auctioning, replenishment of the Reserve Bank India’s ( RBI’s) gold reserves, coins and lending to jewellers. The tenures of deposits can be for a short term of one to three years, a medium term of five to seven years or a longer term of 11 to 15 years.
The RBI will start issuing sovereign gold bonds on November 26, with a tenure of eight years and an interest rate of 2.75 per cent. The bonds will be open for public subscription from November 5to 20. The tenure of the bond will be for a period of eight years with exit option from the fifth year. The bonds will be restricted for sale to resident Indian entities only — including individuals, trusts, universities, and charitable institutions. The interest earned on gold bonds would be taxable, and capital gains tax shall be levied as in case of physical gold.
As for the gold coin scheme, initially, the coins will be available in denominations of five and 10 gms. A 20- gm bar or bullion will also be available. About 15,000 coins of five gm, 20,000 coins of 10 gm and 3,750 gold bullions will be made available through MMTC outlets. The Indian gold coin is unique in many aspects and will carry advanced anticounterfeit features and tamperproof packaging that will aid easy recycling.
Additionally, the government will also issue a list of designated post offices for the Sovereign Gold Bond Scheme.
Reserve Bank fixes issue price of gold bond at Rs.2,684 per gm
The Reserve Bank of India ( RBI) has fixed the issue price of sovereign gold bond — which will be open for subscription from Friday — at Rs.2684 per gm of gold.
The rate has been fixed on the basis of a simple average of closing price for gold of 999 purity of the previous week ( October 26 to 30) published by the India Bullion and Jewellers Association Ltd ( IBJA), the central bank said in a statement. These bonds will be issued on November 26 and applications for the bond will be accepted from November 5 to 20. Only domestic investors are allowed to subscribe to these bonds, which will offer an annual interest rate of 2.75 per cent. The minimum amount that an investor has to buy is two gms, while the upper limit is 500 gms per financial year.
Business Standard, New Delhi, 4th Nov. 2015

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

RBI deputy governor cautions fintech platform lenders on privacy concerns during loan recovery

  India's digital lending infrastructure has made the loan sanctioning system online. Yet, loan recovery still needs a “feet on the street” approach, Swaminathan J, deputy governor of the Reserve Bank of India, said at a media event on Tuesday, September 2, according to news agency ANI.According to the ANI report, the deputy governor flagged that fintech operators in the digital lending segment are giving out loans to customers with poor credit profiles and later using aggressive recovery tactics.“While loan sanctioning and disbursement have become increasingly digital, effective collection and recovery still require a 'feet on the street' and empathetic approach. Many fintech platforms operate on a business model that involves extending small-value loans to customers often with poor credit profiles,” Swaminathan J said.   Fintech platforms' business models The central bank deputy governor highlighted that many fintech platforms' business models involve providing sm

Credit card spending growth declines on RBI gaze, stress build-up

  Credit card spends have further slowed down to 16.6 per cent in the current financial year (FY25), following the Reserve Bank of India’s tightening of unsecured lending norms and rising delinquencies, and increased stress in the portfolio.Typically, during the festival season (September–December), credit card spends peak as several credit card-issuing banks offer discounts and cashbacks on e-commerce and other platforms. This is a reversal of trend in the past three financial years stretching to FY21 due to RBI’s restrictions.In the previous financial year (FY24), credit card spends rose by 27.8 per cent, but were low compared to FY23 which surged by 47.5 per cent. In FY22, the spending increased 54.1 per cent, according to data compiled by Macquarie Research.ICICI Bank recorded 4.4 per cent gross credit losses in its FY24 credit card portfolio as against 3.2 per cent year-on-year. SBI Cards’ credit losses in the segment stood at 7.4 per cent in FY24 and 6.2 per cent in FY23, the rep

India can't rely on wealthy to drive growth: Ex-RBI Dy Guv Viral Acharya

  India can’t rely on wealthy individuals to drive growth and expect the overall economy to improve, Viral Acharya, former deputy governor of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) said on Monday.Acharya, who is the C V Starr Professor of Economics in the Department of Finance at New York University’s Stern School of Business (NYU-Stern), said after the Covid-19 pandemic, rural consumption and investments have weakened.We can’t be pumping our growth through the rich and expect that the economy as a whole will do better,” he said while speaking at an event organised by Elara Capital here.f there has to be a trickle-down, it should have actually happened by now,” Acharya said, adding that when the rich keep getting wealthier and wealthier, they have a savings problem.   “The bank account keeps getting bigger, hence they look for financial assets to invest in. India is closed, so our money can't go outside India that easily. So, it has to chase the limited financial assets in the country and