Revisions to Sovereign Gold Bonds (SGB) guidelines approved

The government has approved the revision of guidelines of Sovereign Gold Bonds (SGB) Scheme with a view to achieve its intended objectives, said a government release on Wednesday. Two sets of changes have been made in the scheme, which include specific changes in the attributes of the scheme to make it more attractive, mobilise finances as per the target and reduce the economic strains caused by imports of gold, and reduce the Current Account Deficit (CAD). 
 
The Ministry of Finance has been delegated power to amend/add to the features of the scheme with approval of the finance minister to reduce the time lag between finalising the attributes of a particular tranche and its notification. The ministry has also been given the flexibility to design and introduce variants of SGBs with different interest rates and risk protection/pay-offs that would offer investment alternatives to different category of investors. 
 
Such flexibility will be effective in addressing the elements of competition with new products of investment to deal with very dynamic and sometimes volatile market, macro-economic, and other conditions such as gold price.