Come Monday, trade in sovereign gold bonds

Mumbai, August 26 

The Reserve Bank of India today said sovereign gold bonds issued in February and March can be traded on stock exchanges from Monday.

The Sovereign Gold Bond Scheme was announced by the government on October 30 in 2015. “Sovereign gold bonds (issued on February 8, 2016 and March 29, 2016) held in dematerialised form shall be eligible for trading on the stock exchanges... from August 29, 2016 (Monday),” the central bank said in a 

statement.

The date of commencement of trading in respect of bonds issued in subsequent tranches will be notified later. So far, four tranches of the bonds have been issued.

The government is likely to issue the fifth tranche next month. The first batch was issued from November 5 to November 20 of 2015.

In October last year, the Finance Ministry had announced that the bonds will carry an interest rate of 2.75% (fixed rate) per annum on the amount of initial investment.

Interest is to be paid half-yearly and the last interest will be payable on maturity, along with the principal.

Aimed at providing an alternative to buying physical gold, the gold bond scheme offers investors a choice to buy bonds worth 2 grams of gold going up to a maximum of 500 grams.

Tenure of the bond is eight years with an exit option from 5th year to be exercised on the interest payment dates.

Minimum investment in the bond is 2 grams with a maximum buying limit of 500 grams per person per fiscal year (April–March). — PTI