Sameer Nigam@_sameernigam
Time for a little myth busting -
- What is Digital Gold? Digital Gold is "Physical Gold sold digitally". It is NOT some sort of a digital token or speculative currency!
The main difference between buying physical gold online and buying Digital Gold is this:
- If you buy physical gold online, from say Tanishq or Caratlane's websites, then they ship the physical gold to the customer.
- If you buy digital gold, from say MMTC-PAMP or SafeGold, then your physical gold is stored in bank-grade secured vaults. It will be shipped to you anytime you ask for it, in multiples of 0.5gms.
For every Digital Gold purchase you get a formal tax invoice and a gold certificate, exactly as if you were buying physical gold in a retail shop.
- Purity level of Digital Gold? All leading Digital gold sellers sell either 99.9% or 99.5% purity gold. Same as most Gold ETFs. As such, there is no difference in purity levels.
- Consumer Protection – Even though gold is an unregulated sector, all large Digital Gold players do get audited to ensure that all gold purchased digitally is backed by an equal amount of physical gold stored in the vault.
Given that Digital Gold is becoming more popular in the country, there is definitely a case for stronger self-governance and audit in this sector. The Digital Gold industry players' recently decision to set up a self-regulatory body (SRO) to monitor quality controls and standardize audits and best practices is a welcome move in that direction.
- Tax Rates:
- 3% GST has to be paid when you buy gold – whether you buy Digital Gold or from a jeweler.
- Gold ETFs do not attract any GST, because the user cannot actually redeem the gold.
So why are lakhs of Indians choosing Digital Gold?
1. Fractional Buying - Most Indians want to, but cannot afford to buy large values (1+ gms) of Gold in one shot. Digital Gold allows Indians to buy fractional units of gold, which can be accumulated and redeem later. The average order value of one-off digital gold purchases is Rs 1000-3000/-, which is not enough to buy even 0.1gms of gold.
2. Daily savings habit - The most popular product in the Digital Gold market today is a daily gold accumulating plan called ‘Daily gold savings’ starting at Rs 10/- per day.
3. Convenience – Digital Gold gives them the option of having their gold stored safely and securely in a vault, instead of having to store somewhere in their own house.
4. Easy liquidity – Digital Gold can be sold online at any time, without the need to go into a physical jewellery shop.
