A lot of time has passed since the Sovereign Gold Bond was introduced. But not even a single installment of the Sovereign Gold Bond has come. Even its installment did not come on Diwali and Dhanteras. Now the officials of the Union Finance Ministry have started saying that this is an expensive tool to raise money. Hindu Business Line has published a report on this. The Sovereign Gold Bond, which was once introduced with great enthusiasm, seems to have become a headache for the government. The government has not started any installment of it yet. When senior officials of the Union Finance Ministry are asked about this, they avoid it instead of saying anything on it. The bond that matured recently, investors have got a huge return of 159 percent on it.
Benefits of SGB
The government had brought the third issue of sovereign gold bonds in 2016-17. Its maturity has passed. Those who redeemed the bonds have made a huge profit of 159 percent. That means its issue price per gram was Rs 3007 in 2016. On redeeming it, investors got Rs 7,788 per gram. That means a profit of Rs 4,781 per gram.
finance ministry official said
He said that this is proving to be a very expensive tool for raising funds. Because of this, there is no mention of SGB in the borrowing calendar issued for the second half of the current financial year. The official says that this is not a social security scheme that it should be issued at all.
When was its last installment released
The last tranche of SGB (FY 2023-24 Series IV) was issued. A total of Rs 27,031 crore was raised from this bond during 2023-24. This scheme was started in 2015. Since then, a total of 67 tranches have been received. Through these, the government has so far raised a total of Rs 72,274 crore.
SGB price fixed
There is a fixed scale for determining the price of SGB. Its price is determined by the Bullion and Jewelers Association Limited on the basis of simple average of three values of gold of 999 purity. In this scheme, the market price of gold is received on maturity.
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At present, 2.5% annual interest is also being given on investment. This amount of interest is given on every 6 months basis. This is becoming a big problem for the government.
The central government presented the budget
When the central government presented this year’s budget, it was cut. It was indicated that fewer gold bonds would be issued than before. Now even government officials have started to tacitly admit that this is an expensive tool to raise money.