Narendra Modi’s ‘Golden’ gift to India on Diwali

In a bid to reduce the demand for gold in the country, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has launched three new schemes--- Gold Monetisation Scheme(GMS), Sovereign Gold Bond Scheme and Gold Coin and Bullion Scheme.

While under GMS depositors will get 2.5% interest, under the Sovereign Gold Bond Scheme, people will earn 2.75% interest on depositing their gold. Besides these schemes, PM Modi also launched gold coin and bullion which bears the national emblem Ashok Chakra and Mahatma Gandhi on either sides of the coin. The coins will be available in denominations of 5 and 10 grams.

Encouraging people to deposit their gold under these schemes, PM Modi said, “People should take advantage of the golden opportunity to help India march to a golden period.”

While announcing these schemes, PM Modi noted that India has been the largest buyer of gold followed by China and has also purchased 562 tonnes of the metal as against China's 548 tonnes.

Taking a pun at RBI governor Raghuram Rajan, PM Modi noted that India’s tradition can boast of savings and empowering women with gold. He added that even the RBI governor Rajan will have to understand the difference between arthashastra (economics) and grahshastra (home economics).

It should be noted that at present India imports around 1,000 tonnes of gold every year, thus putting immense pressure on the country’s forex reserves. PM Modi explained that these schemes could bring down the country’s dependence on the international market for gold, thus reducing the import bill substantially.