RBI to sell gold bonds at 2.5% interest rate

The bonds will be issued every month from October 2018 to February 2019

The government will be issuing gold bonds in five tranches between October 15 and February 8, a note on the RBI site said. The Sovereign Gold Bond 2018-19 will be issued by the RBI on behalf of the Centre, attracting fixed rate interest of 2.50 percent per annum.

The government’s sovereign gold bond scheme will be open for subscription from midOctober, running up to five tranches till February, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) said on Monday.

The sovereign gold bonds would be issued every month from October 2018 to February 2019 according to the calendar specified, the RBI said in a release.

The bonds would be sold through banks, Stock Holding Corporation of India (SHCIL), designated post offices, and stock exchanges — National Stock Exchange and BSE.

The first tranche of the scheme would be open for subscription from October 15-19 and the bonds would be issued on October 23. The next tranche would be open from November 5-9 and issuance would be on November 13. The next one would be available for subscription from December 24-28 and the bonds would be issued on January 1, 2019.

Another tranche would open for subscription from January 1418 and the issuance of bonds would be on January 22. The final one would be from February 4-8 and those would be issued on February 12.

For the current fiscal year, the first tranche of the sovereign gold bond and its subscription opened on April 16.

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 the 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 grams per person per fiscal year.