The Centre is set to announce a new gold policy by end of this month or first half of April to institutionalise and bring in more transparency in the trade.

It also is in the process of setting up policy frame work for launching spot gold exchange and a Gold Board that would eventually be considered to regulate the spot exchange.

Speaking at the fifth India International Bullion Summit here on Thursday, Manoj Dwivedi, Joint Secretary, Ministry of Commerce and Industry, said the process of collecting suggestions from the industry players is almost done and NITI-Aayog is in the process of releasing a the gold policy by March-end or early April.

Following this, he said a task force would be formed to identify measures that can be implemented in a time bound manner. The government is also in the process of forming a Gold Board with representation of all the interested parties including RBI, SEBI, Ministry of Finance, Ministry of Commerce, Directorate General of Foreign Trade and members from the industry to draft the policy framework for launching spot gold exchange.

One of the major hurdles for launch of spot gold exchange is finding the appropriate regulator as it currently falls in the ambit of both RBI and the SEBI.

BSE futures trading

Ashish Chauhan, Managing Director, Bombay Stock Exchange, said the industry will benefit immensely from the reforms initiated by the government to bring in transparency.

Chauhan said the estimated wealth of India is pegged at $11 trillion and of this BSE alone holds 30 per cent or $3.3 trillion. This is the kind of growth the bullion industry can expect once more transparency in trade kicks in with the government reforms, he said.

He also hinted that the country’s oldest exchange would launch futures trading in gold on October 1.

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