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February 24, 2009 |
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Commodity Online
CHENNAI: Buoyed by the huge success of gold coins sales through post offices, India Post, the postal services department of the government of India, is adding more post offices to step up the trade in the yellow metal.
Officials said India Post will soon launch the gold coins trade in 20 post offices in the southern state of Kerala that boasts of having the largest number of gold jewellery shops in the world. Kerala accounts for nearly 20 per cent consumption of gold in India. Total consumption of gold in India is around 700 tonnes per year.
”We are gearing up to launch the gold coins sale in Kerala post offices. We have selected key post offices to sell the gold coins in Thiruvananthapuram, Kochi and Kozhikode regions and selected post offices in Kottayam and Alappuzha districts,” Southern Region Headquarters director Govinda Rajan told Commodity Online.
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He said India Post has added the Kerala circle to enter the gold retail trade as part of a business diversification initiative. “Customers can now walk into any of these post offices and buy pure 24 carat gold coins certified by the Swiss precious metal company Valcambi,” Rajan pointed out.
India Post launched the gold coins sale initiative three months back in association with Reliance Money and World Gold Council. As per the currency scheme, the postal department is selling 0.5 gm, 1 gm, 5 gm and 8 gm gold coins packed in tamper-proof sealed covers.
India Post gives training in handling the software, developed by Reliance Money, for handling gold coins sale and transactions. Every customer is being given an invoice or bill detailing the transaction. While India Post earns an amount as commission, Reliance Money bears the service tax on the commission paid to India Post.
The stocking and sale of gold coins in the post offices are under the direct supervision of the respective postmasters. The postmaster is required to check the Reliance Money web site on a regular basis for the latest updates of gold rates and discounts.
Gold coins are the hottest commodity in India these days. Even as the price of gold continues to rise, sale of gold coins are taking place at brisk pace through banks, equity and commodity broking companies, finance firms and post offices across India.
Earlier this month, India Post also announced the Gold Accumulation Plan (GAP) carried out through its wide postal networks across the country.
As per GAP, customers can purchase gold coins from any India Post offices across nine states in the country. The GAP project ensures that people have the options like the Systematic Investment Plans of investing in gold by accumulating small quantities of the yellow metal.
Spot gold prices in India on Tuesday shot up a record Rs 16,000 per ten grams on global economic worries and the positioning of the yellow metal as a safe haven investment.
Gold trade in Kerala
According to the Kerala Jewellery Manufacturers Association, the state is these days turning out to be one of the hottest destinations in the country for retail jewellery trade thanks to the ever-increasing demand and overall economic growth.
Some unique facts on gold business in Kerala:
**Kerala has the largest number of gold jewelers in India.
**About 500 kgs of gold jewellery is manufactured in Kerala, and a third of this is sold to sellers outside the state.
**There are more than 5000 gold and gold jewellery retailers in Kerala in addition to nearly 40000 artisans engaged in the industry.
**Thrissur continues to be one of the hubs of jewellery manufacturing in South India and it accounts for 3000 large and medium sized manufactures.
**Gold jewellery industry employes around 2 lakh people directly and indirectly.
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