GJEPC put forth its suggestions to modify few points within the Revamped – Gold Deposit Scheme (R-GDS) that will enable its larger acceptance and garner additional deposits of idle gold within the country
In a video conference with Tarun Bajaj, Secretary (Economic Affairs), Department of Economic  Affairs, GJEPC put forth its suggestions to modify few points within the Revamped – Gold Deposit Scheme (R-GDS)  that will enable its larger acceptance and garner additional deposits of idle gold within the country. GJEPC also kept its suggestion on a few points in relation to Gold Metal Loan (GML).
The Revamped Gold Deposit Scheme was formulated to mobilise and productively use idle gold held by households and institutions (estimated to be over 24,000 tonnes), has not yielded the desired results, garnering deposits of only around 20 tonnes of gold.
Colin Shah, Chairman, GJEPC said, “R-GDS has not been highly successful because of a host of factors, inter alia, including apprehensions from an income tax standpoint, trust deficit amongst various stakeholders, lack of geographical reach of banks, lack of commercial lucrativeness, cumbersome process entailing testing through designated purity testing centres, rigidity owing to non-tradability, a lock-in period, and penalty on premature withdrawal. The recommendations therefore are focused on addressing these aspects, which, in our view, will make the R-GDS a more feasible and attractive scheme.â€
Considering the benefits that will flow from the R-GDS, GJEPC requested the Government to evaluate and implement the below recommendations, which are in-fact premised on features/aspects of existing schemes/legislations, which will thus make them easily implementable as well the same can be subjected to corresponding existing compliances/restrictions.
GJEPC suggested that limits specified under CBDT Circular should be revised, through the R-GDS Circular, to the extent of 1 kg for a married woman, 500 grams for an unmarried woman, Â and 200 grams for a male family member.
Market tradable e-deposit certificates can be issued to the depositor having the following attributes:
Formal authorisation of jewellers as a point of Collection and Purity Testing Centres (CPTC), as per terms commercially agreed with the affiliated bank (including provision of adequate security), with following attributes:
* Banks in India be allowed to freely use their Gold nostro accounts to deal with other banks dealing in gold for their borrowing, purchase, sale and its settlement.
* Banks should be allowed to open Gold Ounce Account (GOA) (like Diamond Dollar Account) for their clients (jewellers, traders, refiners).
Be the first to comment