IANS
NEW DELHI, NOVEMBER 5
In a bid to put some 20,000 tonnes of idle gold to productive use and cut imports worth $35-$45 billion annually, India today launched three schemes related to the metal, including domestically minted coins with the images of Ashok Chakra and Mahatma Gandhi.
The schemes launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi also included one to convert jewellery and other similar yellow metal assets with the people into interest-bearing deposits, as also sovereign bonds with an eight-year tenure but with an exit option after five years.
Speaking about the schemes at an event at his official 7, Race Course Road residence, Modi said gold has developed a tradition in the daily lives of Indians towards women empowerment. He also said with India-minted coins people will no longer have to depend on foreign sources.
“The gold scheme can take care of women’s gold while they are out on a vacation and are concerned about where to keep their gold,” he said, adding: “There is a tradition of gold possession in the Indian families. With this scheme the tradition will be preserved.”
He said goldsmiths, who have a great bond with people, can become the biggest agents of the schemes.
“India has no reason to be described as a poor country, as it has 20,000 tonnes of gold. The gold available with the country should be put to productive use. These schemes show us the way forward in achieving this goal.”
Ahead of the launch, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), which will issue the bond scheme, fixed the issue price of gold for the first tranche at Rs.2,684 per gram, based on simple average closing price of gold of 999 purity (24 karat) for the week of October 26-30.
Under the deposit scheme, gold will be accepted at notified collection and testing centres. Banks will then issue certificates in equivalence of 995 fineness of gold under short term (1-3 years), medium (5-7 years) and long-term (12-15 years) schemes.
“The interest rate in the medium term bonds has been fixed at 2.25 percent and for the long-term bonds is 2.5 percent for the bonds issued in 2015-16,” an official statement said. These will be on behalf of the government. The short-term deposits will be on banks’ own accord.
In the bond scheme, the issuing body is the Reserve Bank on behalf of the central government, and will be denominated in multiples of gram(s) of gold with a basic unit of one gram. The minimum investment limit is two grams, with a maximum of 500 grams per person per fiscal year.
The tenure of the bonds -- with an interest rate of 2.75 percent per annum payable semi-annually -- will be eight years with exit option from the fifth year onward. They can also be traded in the bourses, and used as collateral for loans.
The gold coins, on the other hand, will be in a physical form and will have the national emblem Ashok Chakra engraved on one side and the image of Mahatma Gandhi on the other. Initially, it will be available at MMTC outlets in denominations of 5 and 10 grams, apart from a 20 gram bar.
To begin with, 15,000 coins of 5 gm, 20,000 coins of 10 gm and 3,750 bars have been earmarked.
As regards the two monetisation schemes, the government has permitted designated banks to sell or lend the accepted gold for minting India Gold Coins (IGC) by MMTC, as also to jewellers. They can also sell it to other designated banks.
According to the World Gold Council, an estimated 22,000-23,000 tonnes of gold is lying idle with households and institutions in India. The annual imports amount to around 850-1,000 tonnes valued at $35-$45 billion.
The biggest strength of the ‘Make in India’ initiative is “human capital”, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on Thursday during the launch of ‘IMPRINT India’.
“The biggest strength of ‘Make in India’ is human capital. Skill development is very essential for the success of ‘Make in India’ initiative,” said Modi. Modi also laid stress on the importance of innovation and technology for the progress and development of the nation. “Institutions of higher education should give primacy to innovation in learning,” he said. President Pranab Mukherjee was also present at the launch of IMPRINT India. Modi released the IMPRINT India brochure at the Visitors’ Conference at Rashtrapati Bhavan.
IMPRINT India is a Pan-IIT and IISc joint initiative to develop a roadmap for research to solve major engineering and technology challenges in ten technology domains relevant to India.
“Science is universal but technology must be local. To achieve one’s dreams, innovation is the key. The society is becoming technology driven. It is very important to understand the importance of this and look towards affordable technology,” said Modi.
“Finding solutions to challenges like global warming and converting waste to wealth, were key to rise of India,” he added. He exhorted institutions of higher learning to focus on areas such as defence manufacturing also calling for enhanced industry-academia partnerships.
Noting that India imports defence equipment in large quantity, Prime Minister Narendra Modi today emphasised on indigenous manufacturing to help slash the defence budget by 50 per cent within a decade. Addressing an event here, Modi also stressed on developing “local” technology to help people deal with daily challenges as well as the need to provide a proper environment and mobilise resources to encourage “innovation”.
“Today our nation imports defence equipment in large quantity. Is it not possible that our institutions concentrate in the area of defence and research and prepare a human resource development pool which will help in making equipment cheaper to the extent that outside importers use this talent for manufacturing. India can be a global market if we do it.
“If our institutions decide today that we will be able to cut down defence import by 50 per cent in next 10 years, then the amount we save on our defence budget will be pumped into the education sector. Will it not be a big gain? We will be self-reliant,” he said. Society is becoming technology driven and it is essential to look towards affordable technology, Modi said addressing ‘Visitors’ conference at Rashtrapati Bhavan.
He also released an ‘IMPRINT India’ brochure and handed over the first copy to President Pranab Mukherjee. ‘IMPRINT India’ is a Pan-IIT and IISc joint initiative to develop a roadmap for research to solve major engineering and technology challenges in ten technology domains relevant to the country.
