SOVEREIGN GOLD BOND – WIDENING THE SCOPE OF DIGITAL FINANCIAL INCLUSION

Indians have a special attachment with gold. Jewellery made from gold metal has always had a unique value sentiment being an important part of many cultures and traditional rituals. Giving gold jewellery in marriage ceremonies to the bride has always remained as a status symbol. That might be the reason India along with China is on the top list in terms of Gold jewellery purchase. Even gold is looked upon as a safe investment option. As per the estimates nearly 25000 tonnes of gold is with the Indian households. This yellow metal lying idle is approximately 110 lakh crores of INR. Due to shortage of gold supply the demand is satisfied by import of gold. Import cost puts the burden on country’s balance of payment resulting in Current Account Deficit. To bring this idle lying metal in to productive use various schemes were started by Government of India. The year 2015 witnessed the origin of SGB scheme by Government of India. This scheme was launched under the Gold Monetisation Scheme. The present study tried to find out whether the scheme is actually serving its purpose. The primary data revealed that preference is given to physical gold over SGB and the probable reason that came out from the study was low awareness about the SGB