Should You Buy The Sovereign Gold Bond?

Sovereign Gold Bond Scheme bypasses common problems with physical gold investments. Is it worthwhile to invest in them? Note-Interest rate for latest bond issue: 2.5% p.a. and 2.75% p.a. for previous issue.

Gold has traditionally been one of the most preferred investment options for many people in India. In the past few years huge amount of gold investments by Indians had been impacting growth of investments in financial investments like equities, all types of mutual funds and debt instruments like bonds, among others. This in turn, impacted the money available in the economy for its growth. This was one of the major reasons why the government came up with the Sovereign Gold Bonds Scheme.

The idea was to discourage people from buying physical gold and instead invest in a financial investment linked to gold. Here, we will try to answer a simple question: “Should you invest in the Sovereign Gold Bonds?” That’s coming up in a little while.

Efficient benefit of gold investment
Investing in physical gold has many problems that the gold bond bypasses. When you buy a gold bond instead of physical gold you do not incur safekeeping costs. Remember, you need to lock up your gold in a bank locker. In a gold bond, there is also no fear of the usual gold impurity or loss from making charges.

Superior return to physical gold
The government has promised a top-up interest payout of 2.75% per annum on gold bonds which will be paid semi-annually to the investor’s bank account. With physical gold, you only get the benefit of capital appreciation but in gold bond you get this extra interest benefit beside the capital appreciation.

Long holding period ensures stable return
The bond is issued for a maturity period of 8 years. It saves investors from any mid-term volatility, as over the long term, the chance of any capital loss reduces substantially.

Liquidity option through exchanges
You have the exit option from these bonds after completion of 5 years. These bonds can be traded on stock exchanges. Hence, people who need the cash mid-way, can theoretically sell their bonds on these exchanges if buyers are available. However, if you sell these bonds before maturity you would lose the tax benefits and need to pay taxes on the gains.

Tax free return
The gains made from these gold bonds are totally tax exempt if held till its maturity of 8 years. However, if you sell or transfer it early, long term capital gains tax will have to be paid after taking into account inflation indexation
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Risk of stagnation
While in the bond’s eight year period, chances of capital erosion are very low, there remains the risk of stagnation of value. For instance, the gold price was Rs 3,939 per 10 gram at the end of 1994 and, after 8 years at the end of 2002, the gold price was at Rs 4,286 per 10 gram, or a return of mere 8.8% in a period of 8 years. This translates to an annual compounded growth of 1.06%. Historically, gold has gone though such long periods of stagnation.

Have limited exposure
While the interest paid on the Sovereign Gold Bond is attractive, it does get balanced out by the risk of stagnation in the gold investment’s value. 
We, at FundooMoney, feel that you must have a very limited exposure to these bonds. In any case, all your gold, gold-related and commodity investments including gold exchange traded funds (ETF) should not cross 10-15% of the value of your total investments at any time.

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