Sovereign Gold Bonds tranche 4: NSE gets bids of Rs 106 crore

The National Stock Exchange (NSE) has received around 341 kg worth of subscription bids valued over Rs 106 crore for the fourth tranche of the sovereign gold bond scheme, it said on Monday.

"An initial estimate shows that the total collection stands at 341.6 kg and is worth Rs 106.5 crore. The numbers are subject to verification by RBI and other authorities," the NSE said in a statement following the closure on Friday of the 5-day window for bidding for bonds issued by Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on behalf of the central government.

The RBI had appointed NSE the "Receiving Office" for collecting subscription bids from investors, while the latter has received some 8,000 applications, the statement added.

NSE organised nearly 1,000 programmes across India in the last one month to popularise the product, it said.

Finance Minister Arun Jaitley had in last year's Union Budget announced developing the Sovereign Gold Bond, as a measure to contain demand for the metal in physical form.

In Budget 2016-17, he had proposed that redemption of sovereign gold bonds by an individual be exempt from capital gains tax.

The first tranche launched in November had received a subscription for 915.95 kg of gold worth Rs 246 crore, and of Rs 726 crore for 2,790 kg gold under the second tranche of the scheme in January.

In March, the third edition of the scheme, a component of the government's market borrowing programme, received a poorer response getting subscription of 1,128 kg gold, amounting to Rs 329 crore.

The gold bonds are issued in denominations of 5 grams, 10 grams, 50 grams and 100 grams for a term of 5-7 years with a rate of interest to be calculated on the metal's value at the time of investment.

The scheme has an annual ceiling of 500 grams per person.

--IANS

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