Now, banks can directly buy gold from depositors for monetisation plan

With relaxation, one can also deposit with refiners and purity testing centres

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on Friday liberalised the Gold Monetisation Scheme (GMS), 2015, allowing depositors to directly deposit their bullion with either banks, refiners or collection and purity testing centres (CPTCs). The current scheme mandates that customers have to first approach the CPTCs which are approved by the Bureau of Indian Standards. 

The GMS scheme had been able to garner only 16 tonnes of gold as deposits in the last four years. This was largely because of banks’ apathy towards it and also due to practical difficulties of banks in dealing with collection-hallmarking centres. 

The scheme was launched