India Bullion and Jewellery Association (IBJA), previously Bombay Bullion Association (BBA), has entered the bullion retailing by launching gold coins and bars.
The bullion will be available between one gram and one kg and will be sold to jewellery manufacturers and individual buyers from BBA's office in Zaveri Bazaar in Mumbai.
Currently, IBJA will sell bullion through physical delivery, but in the long run, the association wants to sell it online.
"IBJA will sell bullion at around the same price as other retailers. This is for the first time, IBJA has entered bullion retailing", said Prithviraj Kothari, vice president of IBJA and managing director of RiddiSiddhi Bullion, told reporters at the IBJA seminar here.
Gold coins and bars will possess a hallmarking symbol of IBJA with finest purity. IBJA will source gold and silver from overseas and local suppliers depending upon their economic viability and minted with IBJA hallmarking at a nominal cost between Rs 50 and Rs 60 per gram to sell under its own brand.
"With this, the IBJA will generate revenue for the growth of the overall bullion industry in India," Kothari said.
The BBA was selling gold in 1948, though it stopped selling later.
"We will mint coins and bars under our own name to create our own brand for future," Kothari added.
IBJA also plans to buy bullion from local market and expand business through online retail of other portals depending upon its acceptability of these products, he added.
