PANAJI: Goa is estimated to hold scrap jewellery worth Rs 2,000 crore lying idle in households, temples and churches since Portuguese era. This is only a trickle of Rs 50,000 crore worth of the scrap jewellery lying untapped with the rest of Indian households, said gold jewellery and bullion experts at the India International Gold Convention.

“This huge scrap jewellery lying untapped will only emerge in the market when a proper bullion regulation act is put in place by our government,” said Mr Samir Shah, RSBL’s VP, business development, who was in Goa to officially launch RSBL gold coins and introduce the newly-launched RSBL Spot platform for gold trading.
The untapped jewellery scrap can boost the industry’s growth within India itself and we can overcome the import of gold supply. Last year, India imported 360 tonnes of gold, he informed quoting World Gold Council. Unlike other industries, he said, bullion business lacks an industry status.
“We are a fragmented lot. But for a few gold refineries, the country’s refined products is not well accepted worldwide, and with some hesitancy it is accepted locally, such is the country’s poor refining quality.”
This situation would continue because due to lack of gold standard regulations and technology, and poor raw material supplies our huge consuming market would continue to depend on imports. If the government regulates the refining industry with specific regulations pertaining to bullion and gold, it would give the bullion industry a boost, Mr Shah observed.
The IGC attracted key speakers such as Mr Paul Walker, CEO of GFMS Ltd, who launched the Hindi version of the GFMS handbook, Mr Stewart Murray, CEO of the London Bullion Market Association, Mr John Conheeney, Director, marketing, NYMEX, and other bullion pundits.
On the introduction of the gold coins, Mr Shah said the USP of RSBL coins is of (.9999) purity, which is the highest in the market and with tamperproof packaging. The coins would be available in 1 gm, 2 gm, 4 gm, 5 gm, 8 gm, 10 gm, 20 gm and 50 gm. These coins would be available on E-trading platform similar to the platform started by RSBL called RSBL Spot, which has been successfully launched in 16 cities of India.
Mr Prithviraj Kothari, managing director, RSBL, one of the key speakers, said, “The launch of these coins is part of our growth plan by catering to the desires of the common man and strengthening our network by tying up with various distributors and retailers.”
The event, which was organised by the Bombay Bullion Association from August 27 to 29 at Verca, attracted key global participants as Mr George Ng, director, head-Asia, CME Group; Mr Kevin Day, head, business development, DGCX;  Mr S K  Jindal, chairman, Jindal Group of companies; Mr Rajan Venkatesh, MD-India, Bank of Nova Scotia; Mr Rajesh Khosla, managing director, MMTC – PAMP (India) and others