Govt mobilises 6.4 tonnes gold under monetisation scheme

New Delhi: The government has collected 6.4 tonnes of gold under the scheme for monetising the metal, Parliament was informed on Friday.

Launched in November 2015, the scheme intends to mobilise idle gold held by households and institutions so that the wealth can be put to productive use.

The scheme also intends to reduce the current account deficit by lowering country's reliance on gold imports to meet the domestic demand, Minister of State for Finance Arun Ram Meghwal said in a written reply in the Lok Sabha.

"Till February 18, 2017, 6,410 kg of gold have been mobilised under this scheme," he said.

Gold prices plunged as much as Rs 400 today to an over 2-month low of Rs 28,850 per 10 grams. At this rate, the value of gold collected by government so far works out to about Rs 1,850 crore.

Meghwal said government had also launched a Sovereign gold bond scheme in November 2015, as an alternative to purchasing metal gold. So far 7 tranches of sovereign gold bond have been issued.