Planning to get your daughter married in a few years? If you are worried about spiralling gold prices, you need not hurry and stock up on jewellery. Gold savings schemes offered by leading jewellers offer an alternative to physical gold. These schemes not only help you invest in a more systematic way but may also hedge you from wild fluctuation in gold prices.
Though many jewellers offer gold savings schemes, the features vary from one jeweller to another. While the options are many, here are few important things that you may have to keep in mind while choosing a scheme.
SAFETY FIRST
Unlike your bank deposits or corporate deposits, deposits with your jeweller are not regulated by the RBI or any other regulator. Therefore, keep your investments modest and consider only established jewellers with a long standing in the market. If the jeweller’s financial position deteriorates, you may have limited legal recourse to recover your money. Hence, it may be wise to prefer schemes offered by jewellers with a good track record.
GOLD, AND NOT CASH SAVINGS
Opt for a scheme which allows you to convert your instalments into gold immediately on investing, instead of cash saving schemes. The instalment money paid by you is converted into gold at the prevailing gold rate and credited to your account. For instance, if you invest Rs 2,000 in Tanishq’s Swarna Nidhi and assuming that gold retails at Rs 2,900 per gram, your account will be credited with 0.69 grams that month. At the end of the period, you can redeem the gold thus accumulated for jewellery or coins of equivalent weight. For instance, if you have 15 grams of gold in your account and the prevailing price of gold per gram is Rs 3,400, you can buy jewellery worth Rs 51,000 at the end of the period.
In contrast, some jewellers offer schemes wherein your monthly instalment money is accumulated only as cash. For instance, consider Tribhovandas Bhimji Zaveri (TBZ)’s Kalpavruksha plan. Here, if you pay a monthly instalment of Rs 5,000 for 12 months, you will receive one month instalment as bonus. So, at the end of the 12 months you can buy jewellery worth Rs 65,000.
Investing in a cash savings scheme will help only if gold prices either remain stable or decline in future. These schemes may help you buy more gold if prices fall, but will not hedge you against rising gold prices. From the point of view of risk, therefore, it is best to go for schemes which allow you to regularly accumulate gold.
While mid-sized jewellers such as GR Thanga Maligai (GRT), Nathella Anjaneyalu Chetty (NAC) offer gold saving schemes, leading jewellers such as PC Jewellers, Tribhovandas Bhimji Zaveri and Joy Allukas only offer cash accumulation scheme.
INCENTIVES
Don’t forget to check out the scheme specifics and compare the benefits offered by other jewellers before you finalise one. The incentives vary across jewellers. While waiver of Value Added Tax (VAT) and wastage, flexible instalments, flexible payment date and options are the more prominent incentives, not all schemes offer you these advantages.
Similarly, while jewellers such as GRT (GRT Golden Seed) and NAC (Timeless Treasure) waive the wastage (up to a threshold level) charges and value added tax (VAT) on jewellery purchased under the scheme (they bear it on their own account), others like Tanishq just offer a 10 per cent discount on wastage. Instead, Tanishq’s Swarna Nidhi offers its customers free jewellery cleaning service.
Some jewellery items may also be explicitly excluded from such schemes. For instance, the gold savings scheme offered by Malabar Gold and Diamonds does not allow you to purchase gold coins. Similarly, if you intend to buy a diamond stud for your daughter’s wedding, you need to see if the scheme allows you to buy diamond jewellery, apart from plain gold jewellery.
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