Finance Ministry to meet banks on December 1 to make Gold scheme attractive

New Delhi: The Finance Ministry will hold a review meeting with banks and RBI representatives on Tuesday to assess the gold monetisation scheme, which has seen a "slow response" since the launch earlier this month, so as to make it more attractive.

The meeting, to be chaired by Economic Affairs Secretary Shaktikanta Das, is also likely to be attended by RBI Deputy Governor H R Khan, an official said. "Banks are now in talks with institutions and temples to popularise the gold monetisation scheme. The Economic Affairs department will review the progress on December 1," the official added.

The scheme, launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on November 5, has received a "slow response", according to the ministry. Out of the 20,000 tonnes of gold worth over Rs 52 lakh crore lying idle with households and institutions, the scheme has been able to garner only 400 gm of physical gold till November 18. .

The scheme is aimed at reducing the country's reliance on the gold imports to meet the domestic demand. The ministry has recently fine-tuned the scheme to get better response from those holding stocks of gold. It has allowed depositors to give their gold directly to the refiner without involving the collection and purity testing centres wherever it is acceptable to the banks.

"This will encourage the bulk depositors like HUFs and institutions to participate in the scheme," the ministry had said. It had already met the representatives of the gems and jewellery industry associations to seek their views on making the monetisation scheme attractive. Following that, the ministry has allowed more than 13,000 BIS licensed jewellers to act as a Collection and Purity Testing Centres (CPTCs), provided they have a tie-up with BIS's certified refiners.