The Reserve Bank of India has said that the issue price for the Sovereign Gold Bond is fixed at Rs 5,177 per gram of gold. The eighth tranche of sovereign gold bonds of this fiscal will be opened for subscription from November 9 to 13, 2020.

In a statement the central bank on Friday said that the “nominal value of the bond based on the simple average closing price [published by the India Bullion and Jewellers Association Ltd (IBJA)] for gold of 999 purity … works out to Rs 5,177 per gram of gold.”

It further said the government, in consultation with the RBI, has decided to offer a discount of Rs 50 per gram less than the nominal value to those investors applying online and the payment against the application is made through digital mode.

“For such investors, the issue price of Gold Bond will be Rs 5,127 per gram of gold,” the central bank said.

The issue price for the bonds (Series VII/7), which was open for subscription from October 12 to October 16, was Rs 5,051 per gram of gold.

Sovereign Gold Bond 2020-21 (Series VIII) is issued by Reserve Bank India on behalf of the Government of India.

The bonds are denominated in multiples of gram(s) of gold with a basic unit of 1 gram and the tenor of the SGB will be eight years with exit option after the fifth year to be exercised on the interest payment dates.

The bonds are restricted for sale to resident individuals, HUFs, Trusts, Universities and Charitable Institutions.

The minimum permissible investment will be 1 gram of gold and the maximum limit of subscription shall be 4 KG for individuals, 4 Kg for HUF and 20 Kg for trusts and similar entities per fiscal (April-March).

The gold bond will be sold through banks (except Small Finance Banks and Payment Banks), Stock Holding Corporation of India (SHCIL), designated post offices, and recognised stock exchanges (NSE and BSE).

The sovereign gold bond scheme was launched in November 2015 with an objective to reduce the demand for physical gold and shift a part of the domestic savings, used for the purchase of gold, into financial savings.

As per the RBI Annual Report 2019-20, a total of Rs 9,652.78 crore (30.98 tonnes) has been raised through the Sovereign Gold Bonds Scheme (37 tranches) since its inception in November 2015. The RBI issued 10 tranches of Sovereign Gold Bonds (SGBs) for an aggregate amount of Rs 2,316.37 crore (6.13 tonnes) during 2019-20.