The issue date of Sovereign Gold Bond scheme has been extended by four days to November 30 to enable smooth processing, as per RBI.
“Large number of applications has been received by banks and post offices. To enable smooth uploading of applications into RBI’s E-kuber system, particularly by the post offices, it has since been decided to shift the issue date of the Sovereign Gold Bond from November 26, 2015 to November 30, 2015,” RBI said on its website.
Other terms and conditions remain unchanged.
The first tranche of Sovereign Gold Bonds was open for subscription from November 5 to November 20, 2015. The bonds were to be issued on November 26, 2015.
So far, the Government’s much-touted sovereign gold bond scheme has failed to cut much ice with the public with bankers pegging the overall funds collected under the scheme at Rs150 crore.
Bankers reasoned that the lower-than-expected collection is due to a higher issue price, which the RBI had set at Rs 2,684 a gram, whereas the market price was lower.
The Reserve Bank of India, in consultation with Government of India, had notified the issuance of Sovereign Gold Bonds on October 30 this year to help monetise the excess physical gold with Indian consumers.