State Bank of India wants to promote its gold deposit scheme under which it has accumulated 7.79 tonnes of the precious metal so far, the latest addition being Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanam's deposit of 1,175 kg.
Speaking in Tirupati, TS Krishnaswamy, general manager (Network 2), SBI Hyderabad circle, said the Sona Ghars opened last year in Hyderabad, Secunderabad, Vijayawada and Visakhapatnam would be the channels for acquiring the metal.
The gold so mobilised would be melted, purified and assayed to be lent to jewellers as metal gold loan, he said. The metal lending facility is offered at 50 centres, half of which are active and three of them located in the state.
At present, 700 tonnes of gold is imported into India every year, according to Krishnaswamy. Recycling domestic gold through this process would help in reducing its import and thus save foreign currency, he said.
TTD's gold forms the bulk of the deposits the bank has raised from temples. An estimated 20,000 tonnes of gold is in India, much of it lying in lockers in banks and homes, he said.
The endowments department of the state government has approved deposit of gold with SBI by temples. The minimum deposit quantity under the scheme is 500g, and the depositor can be individual, Hindu Undivided Family, trust or company, according to an SBI release.
The deposit periods are three, four and five years, with interest rates of 0.75 per cent per year up to three years, and 1 per cent for three-five years.
