Investment in Sovereign Gold Bonds (SGBs) went up sharply during Covid impacted years as investors looked for safer options amid volatility in equity markets with 2020-21 and 2021-22 accounting for nearly 75 per cent of total sales of the bonds since the inception of the scheme in November 2015.
The next tranche of SGBs is scheduled to open for subscription for five days beginning Monday. The issue price has been fixed at `5,091 per gram of gold. It will be the first issuance of the current fiscal.
The government in consultation with the Reserve Bank of India has offered a discount of `50 per gram less than the nominal value to those investors applying online and the payment against the application is made through digital mode.
A total of `38,693 crore (90 tonnes of gold) has been raised through the scheme since its inception in November 2015, as per a RBI data.
During 2021-22 and 2020-21, the two Covid-impacted financial years, investors bought the bonds for an aggregate amount of `29,040 crore or about 75 per cent of the total sales of the SGBs since its launch.
The Reserve Bank issued 10 tranches of SGBs during 2021-22 for an aggregate amount of `12,991 crore (27 tonnes).
During 2020-21, the central bank issued 12 tranches of SGBs for an aggregate amount of `16,049 crores (32.35 tonnes).
A total of `9,652.78 crore (30.98 tonnes) were raised at the end of the fiscal 2019-20 through the scheme in 37 tranches since its inception in November 2015.
