Today’s Gold Rate in Guwahati

GST on Gold in Guwahati is levied at 3% including the making charges. Even if one redeems the accumulated digital gold in physical gold such as gold coins and bars, s/he will have to pay 3% GST on the total price of gold.

Throughout the recent years, the price of gold jewellery in Guwahati has increased. Owing to the increase in demand, and lesser supply, the people of the state have moved to various alternatives to physical gold. Here is a list of various types of gold investments that you may consider.

• Gold jewellery: The most preferred type of gold investment for the people, since ages, has been gold ornaments. Additionally, gold jewellery has been successfully continuing to attract women for ever. However, investing in gold jewellery brings along its own disadvantages, and additional costs.
• Gold ETFs: Gold Exchange Traded Funds are one such investment instrument that have recently been discovered by the people of Guwahati. Eliminating the expenses of storage, etc., investments in Gold ETFs are made in the form of paper, wherein the asset (gold) is bought in the similar way as stocks are bought on stock exchange. One can invest in gold ETFs online and eliminate the trouble of physical visits, or any additional expenses in storage of making charges. Additionally, Gold ETFs are known to offer the highest purity, which implies that 1 gram of gold is backed by physical gold of 99.5% purity.
• Gold coins/bars: Another replacement to gold jewelry is gold coins or gold bars. Available at almost all jewelers and even some banks, gold coins are small pieces of gold that can be easily bought and stored.
• Sovereign Gold Bonds: Sovereign Gold Bonds are government securities that offer gold in the form of paper. These bonds must be bought from the government only at the time when the government opens the window for their sale to the investors. This window opens for a time period of one week, after every 2-3 months. The initial investments in SGBs offer an interest rate of 2.5%, which is to be paid at gaps of every 6 months. It must be noted that these investments are tax-free at the hands of the investor. An investor must buy a minimum of 1 gram and a maximum of 4kg to invest in these bonds (Value of one bond equals 1 gram).

If you are willing to buy gold jewellery in Guwahati, you can do so using both the offline and the online modes. In order to buy gold ornaments, you visit some of the top jewelry stores in your area. Some renowned gold jewellers in Guwahati include Tanishq, P.C. Jewellers, Kalyan Jewellers, Manik Chand Nand Kishore Jewellers, etc. However, it is always advised that you purchase your gold jewelry from the jewellers that you have known for a long time, since it will reduce the chances of frauds, on account of trust.

If you wish to invest in gold jewellery online, you may visit websites of famous brands such as Tanishq, Caratlane, BlueStone, etc. These brands offer the facility of trying and buying the gold jewellery at the comfort of your home. The salesmen from the company visit your residence, carrying the gold jewellery of your choice. You may try the ornaments and buy only if you like them. Additionally, such jewellery comes with certificates and proofs of their purity.

On the other hand, gold coins can be easily purchased from known jewellers, banks, various online portals such as Amazon, and non-banking finance companies. Gold bars or gold coins are also available at various post offices and MMTC outlets.

If you wish to invest in gold in dematerialized form, which is Gold ETF, you may do so using the online portal. However, you must note that in order to be able to invest in Gold ETFs, one must have a Demat Account. The following documents must be furnished to open an account-

• PAN Card
• Address Proof (Adhaar card, etd.)
• Identity Proof (Voter ID, etc.)

Once your account has been opened, you can decide which Gold ETF you wish to invest in and place an order. Post this, you will receive a confirmation of your purchase on the registered email id. It must be noted that on buying or selling the ETF, a small fee will be charged by the fund house or the broker (if any).

Additionally, if you wish to invest in Gold funds (not ETF) through a hassle-free process, you may do so by visiting online portals such as Paisabazaar.com. These Gold funds can  have further investment into gold ETFs or a few may also hold gold mining stocks.

Investments in SGBs can be made offline and online. To invest through the offline modes, the investor must visit the designated banks or post offices and complete his/her KYC in order to buy the bonds. The returns on these bonds are linked with 24K gold prices which ensures that returns from these bonds are in line with the live gold rate.

Depending upon individual needs and financial objectives from investments in gold, one may choose to invest in either of the types of gold investments.

• If you wish to make use of your investment, you may definitely invest in gold jewellery
• If you are definite of your need of gold jewellery in the coming future, but do not wish to buy the jewellery in the current time, you may choose to invest in gold coins or gold bars
• If your main purpose is to benefit from the increasing gold prices by creating wealth and gaining returns on your invested amount, gold ETFs or gold mutual funds should be your clear choice

Gold, in its physical form is available in various types depending upon its fineness. Units of gold are measured in Karats. Not all forms of gold (whether gold bars, gold coins or gold jewellery) are pure. Gold assets in their physical possession are known to be a mix of gold and alloy. To put it simply, higher the Karats, higher will be its purity.

• A gold asset with 24 Karats of purity implies that it is gold in its purest form. 24K of gold is considered to be 99.9% pure
• A gold asset with 22 Karats of purity signifies that there is approximately 91% of gold in it, while the remaining 9% involves other metals such as alloy and copper in it
• On the other hand, a gold asset with 18 Karats of purity has only 75% of gold in it.

Given below is a list of percentage of gold in different units-

As the purity of gold increases, its price increases. It is very important for investors to ensure the purity of gold before investing in it. Since there are chances that unfair dealers might sell gold jewelry of 18K while claiming it to be 24K. To ensure this, Jewelers are required to put a stamp behind the jewelry indicating its purity and also issue a certificate for the purity of gold.

There are a number of factors that are known to affect the gold rate in Guwahati. Some of the common factors are listed below-

• Since gold is imported to states like Guwahati, there are a few additional expenses such as Import Duty that are applicable to gold. Such expenses incurred by the government affects the price of the gold available for sale to the people of the state.
• Since gold prices are determined by the a number of economic factors, fluctuations in the economy or price of rupee may add on the changes in the price of gold
• The demand of gold in various forms tends to increase during situations like inflation. During such situations that might prevail in the country, people tend to invest more in assets like gold, which eventually increases the demand. This, further results in an increase in the price of gold
• Since gold is considered as an alternative for other invest options such as fixed deposits etc., when the interest rate offered on such investments decreases, people tend to park their funds in gold

• The gold rate in Guwahati keeps on fluctu depending upon the market conditions
• If you are buying any gold jewellery, you must be sure of the current gold price and then cross-check the same with the jeweller in order to avoid any frauds
• While paying the making charges, it is most likely that the jeweller will overcharge you. Hence, you must confirm and get an idea of the prevailing making charges on gold jewellery and then pay the jeweller
• Gold rate in Guwahati may differ from that in other cities. This is because making charges of one jewelle vary from the other, the transportation charges of importing gold to Guwahati would be different from that to another state, and there might be varying taxes levied on gold investments in Guwahati than in another state
• As you buy gold jewellery, you must mandatorily take the receipt/bill of your purchase. Also, ensure that your jeweller gives you a Hallmark certificate if your jewellery is made of Hallmark gold
• It is advised that you purchase gold of 24K (Karat) which is of high purity. A variant to this is 22 Karat gold, which is implies the mix of other metal (alloy) in your jewellery

Investments in gold are equally valuable investments as any other financial instrument. Irrespective of the type of gold investment, you may choose to redeem your funds (from SGBs or ETFs) or sell your gold ornaments in case of need. However, as an alternative to this, various banks and jewellers offer loans against physical gold, which allows the investor to make use of money at the given point in time and then take their gold back after repaying the money.

Financial institutions such as Manappuram Gold, Muthoot Finance, etc. offer to accept gold as collateral security and provide loans against them to the investors. The loan amount is decided against various factors such as the weight of gold, the purity of gold in your investment, etc. However, the investor must pay an interest on the amount borrowed until the loan is repaid. The interest rate varies from bank to bank.