Pranab Mukherjee was mulling issue of monetising gold as FM: Gurumurthy

NEW DELHI: The issue of monetising gold was being considered by the then Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee before the last budget session of Parliament but he apparently gave up the idea due to the Anna Hazare Movement, economist and RSS ideologue S Gurumurthy claimed today.

Speaking at a programme organised by the BJP here, Gurumurthy said that "as Finance Minister, Pranab Mukherjee had called me for a discussion on monetising gold. From 1992 onwards I have been dealing with ways of monetising gold."

The former CA and journalist has a paper on the issue to his credit.

Gurumurthy said an estimated 3,800 to 6,000 tonnes of non-ornamented gold is present in the country which can be deposited with the RBI.

"But I had suggested that for this to work, tax exemption is a must," Gurumurthy said.

He indicated that while Mukherjee, who later became President of India, appeared to concur with his views, he apparently did not go ahead as the issues of black money and the Lokpal were being flagged by Anna Hazare and his team at that time.

The issue of monetising gold may have created a flutter at that juncture.

"I am told the Prime Minister's Advisory Council is taking it up seriously though I do not know what will come of it," Gurumurthy said.