In what can be viewed as a major achievement for PM Modi’s ambitious gold monetitsation scheme, the Siddhivinayak temple of Mumbai is planning to deposit around 40 kg of its gold under the scheme. It may be recalled that Siddhivinayak Temple is around 200 years old and receives gold in large quantities during Ganpati, etc, from devotees. 

As Sanjiv Patil, executive officer of the temple trust told Reuters, “We are planning to melt 40 kg of jewellery with lower purity to make bars and deposit those bars under the gold monetisation scheme. Under the old scheme we were getting 1 percent interest. Now banks are offering 2.5 percent. So we think this is a good scheme.” 

Obviously, the main attraction for the temple is the increase in interest rate by the Govt. for the GMS, which is 2.5 per cent at this point of time. If big temples like Siddhivinayak decide to deposit their gold reserves with the GMS, it will not only be a boost for the scheme but also for the whole economy. The final decision by the Siddhivinayak authorities is expected to be taken by the end of this month in this regard. 

It may recalled that PM Modi launched the GMS with a view to lure the big reserves of gold, estimated to be around 20, 000 tonnes, held by households and temples in the country. However, so far the scheme has gotten only a lukewarm response and this could prove to be a big boost for the scheme.