Cashing in on yellow metal

Now India Post ties up with Nathella to launch gold saving scheme

Chennai: Global recession, fluctuating currencies and high inflation had resulted in spurt in investments in gold and many gold merchants including city-based firm like Nathella is planning to cash on it by tying up with India Post.

Nathella Jewellery managing director Prapanna Kumar told reporters gold is proving to be the best hedge against inflation and the average return on gold in the past one year has been in the range of 30 per cent, making it one of the best performing asset classes right now.

Interestingly, his firm is the first to have a tie-up with India Post, which has a vast network across India, to make investment in gold saving scheme simple and accessible. “We have tied up with 100 post offices across Chennai to reach out to potential customers,” he said.

Having a subscriber base of 50,000, Kumar plans to reach out to five lakh gold consumers through this saving scheme. “A memorandum of understanding has been signed between India Post and Nathella Jewellery to facilitate easy collection of montly instalments of gold jewellery saving scheme ‘Zero Per cent Purchase Plan’ save in gold,” said Kumar.

Now consumers can save in gold at nearest their nearest post office. The payments will be accepted in cash and a receipt will be issued in a similar way as done in Nathella showrooms. The monthly instalments needs to be in multiples of Rs 1,000,” he added.

His firm is also planning to have another outlet in Tambaram and another outside the state soon. “We are also planning to expand our network throughout Tamil Nadu within next three months once we get a feedback of the scheme,” he added.

Thomas Lourduraj, senior superintendent of Post Office, South Division, said this is the first time India Post has joined hands with a jewellery brand to make savings easy and within the reach of customers. Surprisingly, India Post’s networks across the nook and corner of the country is keeping investors interested. “We already sold 15 tonnes of gold in Tamil Nadu after having a partnership with Relaiance,” he added.

The returns from this scheme is quick and based on market prices. The customers won’t be paying value added tax besides they don’t have to pay for the wastages, said Kumar, adding that all jewellery is BIS 916 hallmark.

He also believes demand for gold would be more as even in China the government is encouraging its citizens to invest in gold, he added.