The government has received subscription for 3,071 kg gold amounting to Rs 798 crore under the second tranche of sovereign gold bond scheme, more than three times what it had received earlier.
In a tweet today, Economic Affairs Secretary Shaktikanta Das said Rs 798 crore worth subscription has come under gold bond scheme and total weight of gold applied for was 3,071 kg. Number of applications was 3.39 lakh.
"Gold Bonds: Response to second tranche very encouraging. Scheme certainly picking up. Will work for even bigger response in next tranche," he said.
The first tranche of the scheme, which was launched in November, had received a subscription for 915.95 kg of gold worth Rs 246 crore. As many as 62,169 applications had come in for the first tranche.
The Finance Ministry had yesterday said subscription for 2,790 kg gold amounting to Rs 726 crore has come under the second tranche of sovereign gold bond scheme. It had said that the actual amount garnered through the scheme may vary as comprehensive information from all the authorised receiving agencies is under compilation.
The second tranche of gold bond scheme, which opened for subscription on January 18, closed on January 22. The bonds would be alloted on February 8.
The gold bonds are issued in denominations of 5 grams, 10 grams, 50 grams and 100 grams for a term of 5-7 years with a rate of interest to be calculated on the value of the metal at the time of investment. The scheme has an annual cap of 500 grams per person.
In order to hard sell gold bonds, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley had earlier this month asked banks to make their best efforts to reach out to potential investors to invest in the second tranche of sovereign gold bonds.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi had on November 5 launched gold schemes to wean investors away from physical gold.
The government has fixed the rate of interest on gold bonds for the year 2015-16 as 2.75 per cent per annum, payable on half yearly basis.
India imports about 1,000 tonnes of gold every year and the precious metal is the second-highest constituent of the import bill after crude oil.
The scheme is aimed at reducing demand for gold in physical form by encouraging people to buy the commodity in demat or the paper form.
During April-December this fiscal, gold imports increased to USD 26.45 billion as against USD 25.85 billion in the same period last year.
