Sovereign gold bond series VIII opens today: Know the details

Gold is never a bad option of parking your money. Currently there are multiple options for investing in gold such as sovereign gold bonds, gold ETF, digital gold and physical gold. Gold bonds are a much-preferred scheme since these constitute a government guaranteed scheme.

This government scheme runs in tranches and the series VIII of these bonds in FY22 has opened today on November 29. The scheme will be open for subscription till December 3, and the settlement date has been set at December 7. Here’s everything you need to know about the scheme.

Tranche VIII

In fiscal year 2021-22, seven tranches have already been offered by RBI between May and October. The bonds are issued by Reserve Bank of India on behalf of the government. Sovereign gold Bonds are government securities denominated in grams of gold.

Pay less book more

RBI has fixed the bond price for tranche VIII at Rs 4,791/gm. But if you invest online, you have to pay only Rs 4,741/gm. The current value of 1 gram of gold is around Rs 4,800. So you have to pay at least Rs 60 less in per gram to book SGBs.

Subscription

The minimum permissible investment is 1 gram of gold. The maximum limit of subscription is 4 kg for individuals or retail investors while Know Your Customer (KYC) norms are the same as for the purchase of physical gold.

How to invest

These bonds are sold through Scheduled Commercial banks (except Small Finance Banks and Payment Banks), Stock Holding Corporation of India Limited (SHCIL), Clearing Corporation of India Limited (CCIL), designated post offices, and stock exchanges NSE and BSE.

Benefits of investing in SGB

Gold prices are down which offers a good opportunity for investors to increase their allocation at lower prices.  Sovereign gold bonds pay an annual interest and have tax benefits too. Investors are rewarded an interest at a fixed rate of 2.50% per year, which is payable semi-annually on the nominal value.