BackSecond tranche of gold bonds to be available between 18-22 January
RBI says the investors will be compensated at a fixed rate of 2.75% per annum payable semi-annually on the initial value of investment
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Mumbai: The second tranche of the government’s gold bond scheme will go on sale between 18-22 January, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) said in a statement on its website on Thursday.
The bonds will be denominated in multiples of grams of gold with a basic unit of 1 gram. These bonds will be sold through banks, Stock Holding Corporation of India Ltd (SHCIL) and designated post offices, RBI said.
“The investors will be compensated at a fixed rate of 2.75 per cent per annum payable semi-annually on the initial value of investment," RBI said.
The tenor of the bonds is set at eight years, where bondholders will get an exit option at the end of five years. The minimum permissible investment would be at 2 grams of gold, while the maximum is capped at 500 grams for each investor, each financial year, RBI said in its statement.
The sovereign gold bonds scheme was launched in an effort to reduce demand for physical gold by providing an alternative investment instrument linked to gold. According to a World Bank estimates, about 20,000 tonnes of gold is lying in Indian households.
The first tranche of sovereign gold bonds had become available for purchase between 5-20 November. On 1 December, RBI had said that the first government gold bond scheme was able to attract deposits worth ₹ 246 crore, where a total subscription denominated in units of gold was 915,953 grams.
During the first tranche, the top 10 receiving offices in terms of subscription amount were HDFC Bank Ltd, ICICI Bank Ltd, YES Bank Ltd, Allahabad Bank, Bank of India, Andhra Bank, Karur Vysya Bank Ltd, DCB Bank Ltd, State Bank of India and Federal Bank Ltd, RBI had said.
At the time, bankers said that since the price of gold fell between when the RBI set the price and when the bonds were open for subscription, demand was subdued. “Price of bond will be fixed in Indian rupees on the basis of the previous week’s (Monday–Friday) simple average of closing price of gold of 999 purity published by the India Bullion and Jewellers Association Ltd. (IBJA)," the RBI statement said on Thursday.
These bonds will qualify for the statutory liquidity ratio (SLR) requirement for banks, the central bank said. Commissions on distribution have been set at 1% of the subscription amount.
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