Leading Indian jewellery bodies, including the All India Gem & Jewellery Domestic Council (GJC) and Malabar Gold & Diamonds, have expressed support for Prime Minister Narendra Modi's appeal to reduce gold imports and are advocating for enhancements to the Gold Monetisation Scheme (GMS) to unlock India's vast idle gold reserves.
The government has decided to discontinue the Gold Monetisation Scheme (GMS) starting from Wednesday in view of the evolving market conditions, the finance ministry said. However, the banks may continue their short term gold deposit schemes (1-3 years), the ministry said in the statement on Tuesday. Till November 2024, approximately 31,164 kilograms of gold have been mobilised under GMS.
The government has refuted rumours of a monetisation scheme for gold held by temple trusts and religious institutions, clarifying that such claims are false and misleading.
Banks and friendly neighbourhood jewellers can serve as good channels to provide liquidity for gold deposits with built-in incentives for them, suggests Harsh Roongta.
Jewellers in Lucknow protest Prime Minister Modi's appeal to defer gold purchases for a year amid the West Asia crisis, fearing significant business losses and economic hardship for those involved in the trade.
There are 350,000 jewellers, of which 13,000 are BIS-certified.
'What exactly is on the prime minister's mind, we do not know. But it feels like the government wants the country to be prepared for unseen challenges ahead.'
People can deposit idle gold with authorised agencies and take advantage of the price escalation of gold as well as earn interest on the deposit.
'Customers do not recover the original making charges paid on old jewellery. Sentimental value is lost when heirlooms are exchanged.'
Gold loans can be released online or by bank transfers.
The Bureau of Indian Standards has certified 33 hallmarking centres in the country to act as collection and purity testing centres for the gold monetisation scheme.
Only 21 tonnes of gold have been mobilised in the last eight years under the gold monetisation scheme (GMS) which was announced by the Government of India in November 2015. This could be considered as a failure as the scheme has undergone several changes with a revamped GMS announced in April 2021 to improve collections. This figure was released by the World Gold Council (WGC) on Wednesday in its report titled 'Gold Investment Market and Financialisation, in India gold market series'.
Banks can also allow the depositors to deposit their gold directly with the refiners.
India imported 967 tonnes of gold in 2014-15.
Insights from behavioural economics suggest that an ambitious nudge can be effective if three conditions are met, points out Ram Singh Insights from behavioural economics suggest that an ambitious nudge can be effective if three conditions are met, points out Ram Singh, director, Delhi School of Economics.
A workshop has been organised in Mumbai to come up with suggestions.
The Indian government is set to accelerate reforms, including measures to enhance foreign direct investment, speed up divestment, and boost asset monetisation, to maintain economic growth despite rising fuel and fertiliser import costs driven by the West Asia crisis.
The scheme is yet to take off.
Conversion into jewellery during redemption would entail 15-20% wastage and making charges, rendering the scheme inefficient
Gold monetisation scheme will help unlock value of gold.
The trust has around 35 kg of gold and will deposit the gold which is not in day-to-day use of the temple.
The scheme calls for banks, refineries and hallmarking centres to work together.
For India to monetise gold, it is not the institutional depositor that policymakers must target but the average retail depositor.
The Reserve Bank on Tuesday proposed greater flexibility to authorised persons to undertake foreign exchange transactions for hedging their exposures, balance sheet management and market-making, as well as to ease reporting obligations, after a review of the current regulations.
Only three or four tonnes is estimated to have been mobilised under the scheme.
Earning returns from an asset lying idle can be a good option in times of volatility.
'An asset must generate income. Equities yield dividends, bonds pay coupons, deposits give interest, and real estate earns rent.' 'Gold, silver, and even Bitcoin produce no income, they merely store value. So, they should not be compared to productive assets.'
The temples are concerned about the religious sentiments of the devotees who donate gold ornaments in the name of the deities
Deposit certificates will also be exempt from capital gains tax.
The RBI on Wednesday asked banks to provide an option to jewellery exporters and domestic manufacturers of gold jewellery to repay a part of Gold (metal) Loans (GML) in physical gold. As per the extant instructions, banks authorised to import gold and designated banks participating in Gold Monetisation Scheme, 2015 (GMS) can extend GML to jewellery exporters or domestic manufacturers of gold jewellery. GML are repaid in Indian rupees, equivalent to the value of the yellow metal borrowed.
Look at gold bonds or gold monetisation scheme instead of buying physical gold
As the country moves towards creating a spot gold exchange, markets regulator Sebi's whole time member G Mahalingam on Wednesday suggested routing all the imports of the precious metal through the exchange ecosystem in the future. Such a "funnelling" would ensure that gold monetisation takes place right at the source as the metal enters the country, he said while addressing a conference organised by industry lobby Ficci. However, he also noted that the issue has not been dealt with in the papers floated by Sebi.
The government plans to borrow Rs 6 lakh crore in this financial year.
A Ganesh Nadar/Rediff.com speaks to common folk in Tamil Nadu about whether they will invest in Arun Jaitley's gold monetisation scheme. Their reactions will not make the Union finance minister happy.
For the first time, consumers, including those at the so-called bottom of the pyramid, are monetising gold by taking loans from banks, offering the yellow metal as collateral, says Tamal Bandyopadhyay.
Manas Sood, a Class 12 student from the Delhi Public School, has distributed 2,650 boxes of Tax City Education and empowered over 12,000 students from 52 schools across India. His aim? To help young Indians understand taxes and become financially literate.
Loan against gold as a product is catching on fast. Let's keep the momentum going, but aim for sustainable growth. A few bad apples should not ruin the brunch, argues Tamal Bandyopadhyay.
India has 20,000 tonnes of idle gold; gold is an important aspect of women empowerment: PM.
New gold schemes may perform better than previous plans: UBS.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched a scheme to tap a pool of over 20,000 tonnes of gold held by households and temples.
