Muthoot Exim Pvt Ltd, the precious metals division of the Muthoot Pappachan Group, plans to add 16 Gold Point centres by the end of 2017 and recycle about two tonnes of scrap gold by 2018.
The company has opened an outlet in western India, at Borivali in Mumbai, which is the fourth centre in the country after Coimbatore, Chennai and Delhi.
Thomas Muthoot, Executive Director of MPG, said that the idea is to launch three more such centres by March 2016. The next phase includes Telengana, Andhra Pradesh and Gujarat, which will take the number of Muthoot Gold Point centres to 16 by the end of 2017.
Muthoot Exim is the first organised player to foray in gold recycling, an activity that will directly slash gold imports and help the government control its deficit funding. To achieve this goal, the government is also aggressively pursuing the gold monetisation scheme, he said.
The company, through its centres, will buy old and used gold items directly from customers. This gold is then melted and refined, before being supplied in the form of refined bars for domestic consumption. Following the launch of the initiative last November, the company was able to recycle 45 kg of old gold, he added.
Keyur Shah, CEO of Muthoot Precious Metals Division, said that gold recycling has not been tapped to its full potential in India. Recycling is mostly done by unorganised sector players, he pointed out.
“We have tied up with Mumbai-based Infinium Precious Resources for technical training and also for refining scrap gold,” he said.