Govt fixes price for sovereign gold bonds at Rs 3,443 per gram

The government has fixed the price at Rs 3,443 per gram for the new series of sovereign gold bonds (SGBs) opening Monday.

The Centre in consultation with the RBI has decided to allow a discount of Rs 50 per gram from the issue price to those investors who apply online and the payment is made through digital mode, the finance ministry said in a statement.

"For such investors, the issue price of gold bond will be Rs 3,393 per gram of gold," it said.

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on May 30 announced calendar for issuance of SGB for the first half of the current financial year.

The bonds will be issued every month from June 2019 to September 2019, the RBI said in the statement.

The sovereign gold bond scheme was launched in November 2015 with an objective to reduce the demand for physical gold and shift a part of the domestic savings, used for purchase of gold, into financial savings.

Under the scheme, the bonds are denominated in units of one gram of gold and multiples thereof. Minimum investment in the bonds is one gram with a maximum limit of subscription of 500 gram per person per fiscal year (April-March).

The maximum limit of subscription is 4 kg for individual and Hindu Undivided Family (HUF) and 20 kg for trusts and similar entities per fiscal (April-March).

The annual ceiling includes bonds subscribed under different tranches during initial issuance by the government and those purchased from the secondary market.