India Post to launch Gold Accumulation Plan
India Post announced the success of its Gold retailing pilot project in association with Reliance Money and World Gold Council. It also announced plans to launch Gold Accumulation Plan (GAP) via its retail network.
India Post announced the success of its Gold retailing pilot project in association with Reliance Money and World Gold Council. It also announced plans to launch Gold Accumulation Plan (GAP) via its retail network.
The announcement was made by Sunita Trivedi, chief general manager, India Post today. More than 10,000 customers have purchased 24,742 gold coins through India Post outlets since October.
The proposed GAP will offer customers a SIP (Systematic Investment Plan) like option while investing in gold through accumulation of small quantities as and when they have the money during a particular month. Hence, customers will not need to invest a huge lump sum at a single point of time.
“Retailing gold through India Post is a ground-breaking initiative in the Indian investment sector and one of its kind in the world. The success of this pilot study is a true reflection of the faith an average Indian has in India Post and in gold as an asset class. Gold is also the most credible form of Social Security for the women of India and introduction of GAP by the Indian Postal Services will be one more innovation from them in the service of these women. This initiative will be another first by a highly credible organized player in the Indian investment sector” said Ajay Mitra, managing director of World Gold Council, India.
Under GAP, the customer will benefit from the average pricing of gold over a period of time, as more gold grams will be credited when the price of gold is low and lesser will be purchased when the price is high. The quantity of gold to be invested in or grammage (such as 25/ 50/ 100 grams) and the tenure (such as 12/ 24/ 36 months) specified can be increased as and when desired by the customer.
“We are extremely happy with the success of the gold retailing pilot and are looking forward to introducing the GAP with India Post. Through this pioneering move, we aim take the culture of structured investments in gold to the masses by giving them the convenience of investing in small quantities. We are sure this move will bring about a paradigm shift in the way people invest in gold in the country,” said Sudip Bandyopadhyay, director and CEO, Reliance Money.
