Sourcre:ET:30 Apr 2010, 1559 hrs IST,PTI
NEW DELHI: India Post, the government's postal department, on Friday announced sale of gold coins with its own logo at hundreds of post offices across the country.
Besides, it also announced plans to expand the network of post offices where these gold coins would be sold from 466 currently, to 700 post offices during May 2010.
For sale of 24-carat coins produced by Switzerland-based Valcambi, India Post is partnered by World Gold Council and Anil Ambani group's Reliance Money Infrastructure.
The Department of Posts had first introduced sale of gold coins through select post offices on October 15, 2008 and has sold coins to more than 40,000 customers since then.
The Department also announced a special one-month discount of six per cent to mark the launch of new coins with the 'India Post' logo.
Commenting on the launch, Reliance Money Infrastructure Director Vikrant Gugnani said, "We expect this move to grow the demand for gold significantly."
Reliance Money functions as the operations associate for the India Post gold coins project.
India is the largest consumer of gold in the world and reports suggest that Indians privately hold around 18,000 tons and consume around 700 tons of new gold every year.
