ePaper Nov 5, 2015

SUBCONTINENT/DIASPORA 9 DESI EXPRESS www.desiexpressonline.com Thursday, November 5, 2015 Modi seeks to harness idle gold New Delhi — In a bid to put some 20,000 tonnes of idle gold to productive use and cut imports worth $35-$45 billion annually, India today launched three schemes related to the met- al, including domestically minted coins with the im- ages of Ashok Chakra and Mahatma Gandhi. The schemes launched by Prime Minister Nar- endra Modi also included one to convert jewelry and other similar yellow metal assets with the people into interest-bearing deposits, as also sovereign bonds with an eight-year tenure but with an exit option after five years. Speaking about the schemes at an event at his official 7, Race Course Road residence, Modi said gold has developed a tra- dition in the daily lives of Indians towards women empowerment. He also said with India-minted coins people will no longer have to depend on foreign sourc- es. “The gold scheme can take care of women’s gold while they are out on a va- cation and are concerned about where to keep their gold,” he said. “There is a tradition of gold possession in the In- dian families. With this scheme the tradition will be preserved,” Modi pointed out. He said goldsmiths, who have a great bond with peo- ple, can become the biggest agents of the schemes. “India has no reason to be described as a poor country, as it has 20,000 tonnes of gold. The gold available with the country should be put to produc- tive use. These schemes show us the way forward in achieving this goal.” Ahead of the launch, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), which will issue the bond scheme, fixed the is- sue price of gold for the first tranche at Rs2,684 per gram, based on simple av- erage closing price of gold of 999 purity (24 karat) for the week of October 26-30. Under the deposit scheme, gold will be ac- cepted at notified collection and testing centres. Banks will then issue certificates in equivalence of 995 fine- ness of gold under short term (1-3 years), medium (5-7 years) and long-term (12-15 years) schemes. “The interest rate in the medium term bonds has been fixed at 2.25 per cent and for the long-term bonds is 2.5 per cent for the bonds issued in 2015-16,” an official state- ment said. These will be on behalf of the government. The short-term deposits will be on banks’own accord. In the bond scheme, the issuing body is the Reserve Bank on behalf of the cen- tral government, and will be denominated in multi- ples of gram(s) of gold with a basic unit of one gram. The minimum investment limit is two grams, with a maximum of 500 grams per person per fiscal year. The tenure of the bonds — with an interest rate of 2.75 per cent per annum payable semi-annually — will be eight years with exit option from the fifth year onward. MamatasaysChina keenonBengal Kolkata — China on Thursday evinced interest to set up an economic in- vestment zone, an auto hub apart from collaborating in many key areas of in- frastructure development, West Bengal Chief Minis- ter Mamata Banerjee said after meeting Chinese Vice President Li Yuanchao. “China will work more closely with Bengal,” Ba- nerjee said after a one-on- one with Li at the glass house of Eco Park in the city’s northeastern fringes. “China is interested in investing in infrastructure development, tourism and auto hub. The vice presi- dent also evinced interest in setting up an economic investment zone,” she told media persons. Later, Banerjee wrote on her Facebook page that the meeting was “very cordial” and she was “extremely honoured” with Li’s visit to the state. “Today I had a meeting with His Excellency and a 12-member delegation including four ministers of China. The delegation expressed keen interest to further relations with Ben- gal and set up Economic In- vestment Zone in the state as their first preferred des- tination.” Banerjee also expressed keenness to collaborate with China in infrastruc- ture, tourism, educational and cultural exchanges and setting up of a manufactur- ing hub. “I requested the vice president to send a strong business delegation to the Bengal Global Business Summit in January, 2016 to which he responded very positively.” Earlier in the day, Li visited Nobel laureate poet Rabindranath Tagore’s an- cestral house at Jorasanko, which is now part of the Rabindra Bharati univer- sity campus. West Bengal Governor Keshari Nath Tripathi host- ed a lunch in honour of the visiting leader. Mamata also professes herself eager to collaborate with China in infrastructure, tourism, educational and cultural exchanges and setting up of a manufacturing hub Prime Minister Narendra Modi launching the Gold schemes in New Delhi. Looking on are Union MinisterforFinance,CorporateAffairsandInformationandBroadcasting,ArunJaitley,andMinister of State for Commerce and Industry (Independent Charge), Nirmala Sitharaman.

ePaper Nov 5, 2015

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