Dipawali is the main Hindu festival. A couple of days prior to it is ‘Dhanteras’, a day when traditionally people go and shop for gold, silver, utensils, and whatnot.
In his recent ‘Mann ki Baat’ speech, India’s PM Narendra Modi said that he will announce a ‘Soverign Gold Bonds’ scheme prior to Dhanteras, under which people can buy the bonds in lieu of actual gold. These bonds will carry value in terms of quantity of gold, and will be redemable in terms of prevailing price of gold.
This according to Modi will be a better option, instead of buying physical gold, and then paying banks rent for lockers to store it, with the ever present fear of theft.
