SafeGold, a digital gold platform, has launched a new offering called ‘Gains’, which allows individuals to lease idle gold assets to jewellers to earn a yield (in gold).

Idle gold assets in India is currently estimated at about 25,000 tonnes. SafeGold says its leasing offering will enable 100-plus million retail consumers diversify their long-term investments. 

Currently available to digital gold customers, SafeGold will soon offer the facility of collecting physical gold from a customer’s doorstep.

The offering also targets the underserved small units in the jewellery industry which employ nearly 6 million skilled artisans and workers.

Gaurav Mathur, Founder and MD, SafeGold, said, “With Gains, we want to empower consumers and jewellers alike to tap into India’s household gold reserves and reinvigorate gold as an asset class. This will reduce India’s dependence on gold imports by mobilising locally owned gold and while driving a simple gold metal lease to MSMEs, who are underserved by banks.”

India has approximately 3 lakh retail jewellers, of whom 20-30 per cent are in the organised sector. However, most fall in the single-store segment, fulfilling customer requirements at a neighbourhood or city level, at most. The vast majority of jewellery in India is produced and sold by these micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs), who, unlike the larger players, are unable to obtain gold metal leases (GML) from banks. ‘Gains’ will give these 50,000 MSME jewellers access to GML.

The pilot stage saw an average ticket size of 5.05 gm committed by each customer to the lease. Leases have typically sold out within 24-36 hours of being listed on the platform. 

Consumers can lease their idle gold to jewellers on the Gains digital platform or opt for offline collection in select locations. 

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Published on October 13, 2022