by Sutanuka Ghosal
India Times, Economic Times
KOLKATA: The Gold Monetisation Scheme (GMS) remains a non-starter seven months after its introduction as most banks are yet to enter into an agreement with collection centres and refiners, two players in the chain said. The scheme aims to unlock 22,000 tonnes of idle gold lying with Indian households and reduce the country’s dependence on imported gold. Banks are not yet ready with their board approvals and GMS software to operate this scheme.
In the earlier gold deposit scheme, the government mint took 180 days to settle their refining account but with 0.5% interest payout at that time. Banks were not impacted by this delay.