FY25 gold bond float target cut by 38%

New Delhi: The government has slashed its gold bond issuance target for this financial year by 38% from the record interim budget goal, a senior official said, indicating waning investor interest amid better alternatives.

It now intends to float "paper gold" worth Rs 18,500 crore in 2024-25, against Rs 29,638 crore estimated in the interim budget and Rs 26,852 crore (revised estimate) in 2023-24.

"The decision followed a reassessment of various factors, including investor demand, other investment products and uncertainties around the global economy, as the situation has changed since the interim budget in February," the official told ET on condition of anonymity.

Net issuances of the sovereign gold bonds (after factoring in redemption) are now pegged at Rs 15,000 crore in this fiscal, against Rs 26,138 crore in the interim budget and Rs 25,352 crore in 2023-24 (revised estimate).

Harish Galipelli, director at ILA Commodities India, said a growing number of retail investors are now parking their investible surplus in equities, anticipating better returns.

"People are also unsure whether gold prices would rise further (in the short-to-medium term) after a rally in recent years," he said.

Similarly, savings of people in rural areas have been hit by retail inflation and other factors, Galipelli said.

The government had launched the gold bond and gold monetisation schemes in late 2015 to discourage physical purchases of the precious metal and trim imports to reduce its debilitating impact on the current account deficit.

The gross mop-up through these two schemes is now budgeted at Rs 20,030 crore in 2024-25, against Rs 31,168 crore in the interim budget and Rs 28,240 crore (revised estimate) last fiscal.

Similarly, the net collection is estimated at Rs 16,433 crore, compared with Rs 27,571 crore in the interim budget and Rs 26,653 crore a year before.

The estimates of mop-up through the gold monetisation scheme, however, have been retained at the interim budget level.

The sovereign gold bond scheme is targeted at those looking at gold as an investment - helping them buy paper gold instead of physical gold.

The gold monetisation scheme seeks to bring out idle gold with households, temple trusts and others to raise domestic supply.

Both were intended to curb gold imports, which, together with crude oil, have been a big contributor to India's current account deficit. Having touched Rs 16,049 crore amid Covid-19 in 2020-21, gold bond issuances moderated before the surge in 2023-24.