In November last year, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had launched a scheme to channelise gold worth over Rs. 52 lakh crore lying with households into the banking system and floated paper bonds to curb its imports that have made India the largest buyer of gold in the world.
India imports a staggering 1,000 tonnes of gold every year, draining out foreign exchange and putting pressure on the fiscal deficit.
An estimated 20,000 tonnes of gold worth over Rs. 52 lakh crore is lying with households and temples
In an effort to make the Gold Monetisation Scheme more customer-friendly, the Reserve Bank of India has said depositors will be able to withdraw medium-term (5-7 year) and long-term government deposits (12-15 years) prematurely after the minimum lock-in period, though with a penalty.
The RBI on Thursday January 21,2016 made a few amendments to its Master Direction on the scheme.
The modifications, it said, have been made in consultation with the government to make the scheme "more customer-friendly".
The rate of interest on the deposits will be decided by government and notified by the RBI from time to time.
The current rate of interest as notified by the government on medium-term deposit is 2.25 per cent per annum and on long term deposit is 2.50 per cent per annum.
"The depositors will be able to withdraw medium term and long term government deposits pre-maturely after the minimum lock-in period of three years in the case of medium term deposits and after five years in the case of long term deposits," it said.
However, there will be penalty in the "form of lower rate of interest for premature withdrawals" depending upon the actual period for which the deposit has run.
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