With the prices of gold hitting its maximum and the season opening its door for the weddings, i get a call from one of our relatives for accompanying her to her much awaited jewellery shopping. We visited many stores before finalising, but I noticed one thing that was common to all these leading jewellers and that was the different gold scheme that they were offering and the fact that all these schemes were equally appealing to hear considering the finesse with which the sales personal at each store explained about the scheme, elaborating on how we could save so much by investing in these schemes. My aunt was so convinced with these schemes that she immediately agreed to register for one such scheme. Like her there are large no of people who join such schemes, assuming that they have got a good bargain in the form of these schemes.
So what exactly are these schemes?
Let’s look at the pros and cons of the types of the schemes that are on offer in the market. Let us understand this better with the help of an example.
Suppose the scheme is designed as such where the investor has to invest a fixed sum of amount every month for 10 or 11 months depending on the scheme type and on the completion of 10 months, the investor is eligible for 65-75% of his one installment as a discount on the product price.
Say Mr A. deposits 2000 Rs every month for 10 month and on completion of 10 installment he is eligible for 75%(higher limit) of 2000 that is equal to 1500 discount on the product price.
Cons of the scheme:
- The money is blocked for a long period of time and can only be utilized for buying jewellery, it cannot be used to buy gold bars or coins.
- The investor is forced to buy the jewelleries from the jeweler only, so he loses the opportunity of options.
- The money cannot be withdrawn like in the case of fixed/recurring deposits
- If the investor misses out on any installment, he is penalized.
- The option is also not very safe as compared to bank deposits, as not all jewellers are strong financially considering the recent case of ‘’NIRAV MODI’’.
These schemes are clearly designed to boost the sales of the jewellers, as these schemes guarantee future sales and also provide certainty on the continuous influx of funds each month from these schemes. This is a biggest solution for the working capital problem for these jewellers who get easy availability of funds at less cost.
Pros of the scheme:
- It is suitable for those who have less understanding of other investment options and consider gold investments as safe haven
- It develops the habit of investing regularly which they would not have done otherwise.
Some of the gold schemes in the market:
- Golden harvest schemes by Tanishq
- Gold saving schemes by Kalyan jewellers
- Kalpvruksha from Tribhuvandas Bhimji Zaveri
- Joyalukkas gold saving scheme
Written and edited by:
Shivangi Bathwal
dailydelights 