Govt to operate gold-monetisation scheme through certified jewelers

The government is reported to be planning to involve neighbourhood jewellers in its gold monetisation scheme, which could soon be operated through certified jewellers.

Reports quoting official sources said these certified jewellers would offer guidance to customers wanting to sell gold into the government's gold monetisation scheme.

For this, however, the jeweller would have to go through the know your customer (KYC) norms, collect the precious metal, and be authorised to issue a certificate of authentication on the content and purity of the metal.

Meanwhile, the number of collection centres has gone up from 340 at the time of the launch of the scheme to about 13,000 at present, after the Bureau of Indian Standards decided to empower more jewelers to act as collection centres.

The centre is also planning a massive publicity campaign to make the scheme more attractive.

The government had launched the scheme in late 2015, along with sovereign gold bonds scheme, in order to tap into the vast collection of gold and jewellery lying idle in households and temples, and offer an alternative investment channel.