Sovereign Gold Bonds issue opens on Monday

New Delhi, April 23 :  The first tranche of the Sovereign Gold Bonds (SGB) scheme in this fiscal will open for public subscription on Monday.

A Finance Ministry statement last week had said that the applications for Sovereign Gold Bonds 2017-18 - Series I will be accepted from April 24 to April 28 and the bonds issued on May 12.

The issue price of the gold bonds will be Rs 50 per gram less than the nominal value, it said.

On Friday, the Reserve Bank of India announced the issue price for this tranche at Rs 2,901 per gram. 

The bonds would earn a yearly interest of 2.75 per cent, payable every six months and their tenure be 8 years, with an exit option from the fifth year to be exercised on the interest payment dates. 

The government said the bonds will be sold through banks, post offices, Stock Holding Corporation of India, as well as the National Stock Exchange and Bombay Stock Exchange.

SGBs are denominated in multiples of gram of gold with a minimum unit of 1 gram and maximum of 500 grams, which is also the maximum allowed per person per fiscal. They can also be held in demat form for ease of trading. 

The government, which launched the scheme in November 2015 as an alternative to purchasing the precious metal, has so far issued seven tranches of SGBs mobilising 6,410 kg of gold, as per data furnished last month.