Revisit gold monetisation plan: House panel to Govt

Expressing reservations over the Centre's proposed gold <g data-gr-id="44">monetisation</g> scheme, chief of Parliamentary panel on finance Veerappa Moily on Wednesday said the government should revisit it as it is unlikely to take off with the existing conditions.

The committee would examine the scheme as the gold industry players have submitted a memorandum before the panel raising certain doubts about it. After hearing the industry's views, a detail report would be placed before Parliament on the need to have a sound and proper policy on gold in the country, he added.

To reduce the current account deficit and bring down the country's dependency on gold imports, the government in May had come out with a draft <g data-gr-id="41">monetisation</g> scheme that aims to monetise gold through recycling of domestic gold stock. "This scheme has to be reexamined and revisited. This is not my reservation <g data-gr-id="39">alone</g> but many other people in the industry have (also) expressed that it may not take off. There is no point coming out with a scheme which will not take off," Moily, the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Finance Chairperson, told reporters at an 

Assocham event.

The industry players have submitted a memorandum to the committee on this issue. The panel will examine it and will come out with a standalone report on gold <g data-gr-id="29">monetisation</g> scheme, he added. Earlier while addressing the event, Moily said that the government should take steps to make the scheme "simple and easy to comprehend for the public at large".

Citing reasons which could hinder kick start of the scheme, he said: "If a low rate of interest rate like 1 or 2 per cent is offered for gold deposits, few people will come forward." He further said that there is an emotional value attached to <g data-gr-id="30">family-inherited</g> piece of the metal, households do not want to lose identify of its inheritance by melting it. 

Also, the integrity and number of centres where gold jewellery of individuals will be melted and certified will have to be raised exponentially so as to cover the length and breadth of the country, he said. More importantly, the number of conditions laid out to open a gold deposit account may act as <g data-gr-id="35">deterrent</g>, he noted.