The first tranche of the Gold Bond Scheme (GBS), which was listed on the exchanges late last month, has taken the sheen off other gold saving schemes such as exchange traded funds and mutual fund schemes.
The GBS has gained 21 per cent (since its listing on June 13) to ₹3,216 on Monday, though it closed 6 per cent lower on profit-booking. The first tranche of gold bond was issued at ₹2,682 and the government raised ₹246 crore through 63,000 applications.
Investors selling on the exchange have to pay short-term capital gains tax. These bonds, which are considered part of the Central Government’s borrowing programme, have a maturity of eight years.
Gold ETFs, on the other hand, have returned around 1 per cent in the last one month.
