Council demands tax benefits on gold investments

The World Gold Council (WGC) sees a better role for gold as an investment instrument for the purpose of tax saving in India, a press release as of the council said, quoting a senior official.

There are a number of ways of accessing the asset benefits of gold and it is time that the Indian government started considering it for the rider of income tax benefits, at least for working women and for the foundation level in the income tax brackets, Ajay Mitra, managing director, Indian sub continent, WGC was estimate in the release as saying.

In the light of the current global financial scenario, WGC sees renewed interest in investing in gold worldwide, the release said. In India too, the fundamental appetite to invest in gold to protect wealth has shown signs of growing, it said. Gold should play a more important role in the sustainable growth of the Indian economy and WGC welcomes the increasing stress on the government to enable this, Mitra added.

The release said that post the 1992 reforms in India, there have been no major moves to further liberalize the gold asset market and hence there needs to be a change to the rigid definition of gold in India.