India Post rakes in Rs 2.6 cr from gold coin sales

In less than 15 days the Department of Posts has earned over Rs 2.5 crore from the sale of gold coins from its post offices across five states.

An official in the Department of Posts said, “There has been sale of about 20 kg of gold coins in the past 15 days resulting in revenues of about Rs 2.6 crore for the department. The maximum sale was through 5 gram coins led by Gujarat, Delhi, Tamil Nadu and Maharashtra.”

“This was helped by the inaugural 5 per cent discount that was given by the Department of Post, which ends tomorrow,” added the official.

On 15th of this month post offices started selling 24 carat gold coins across 100 India Post outlets in Delhi, Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra and Gujarat in the pilot phase. The gold coins are in the denomination of half gm, one gm, 5 gm and 8 gm.

“Since it is very affordable and in small quantities so the middle class can make investments in gold according to their needs. Also since it is carried out by the postal department and carries a seal, the customers are assured of the quality that they will get,” said the official.

The scale of this project was expanded to Punjab and will be extended to post offices in Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Madhya Pradesh next month. The further expansion plans for this project will be based on public response.

The official further said, “We received an overwhelming response to this sale of gold coins, even beyond our expectations. The demand even exceeded the supply that we had anticipated, so we had to make further arrangements to meet the demand.”

In its pilot phase the Department of Posts launched the project in association with World Gold Council and Reliance Money. During the second phase of the project, post offices will be selling gold coins with India Post logo.