Today’s Gold Rate in Lucknow

India relies heavily on imports to meet existing gold demand. Across the world, the Gold rate is decided by the London bullion association and IBA publishes the gold prices in US dollar twice in a day which serves as a benchmark worldwide for bankers and bullion traders.

In India, the Indian Bullion Jewellers Association (IBJA) takes the international price of the gold as a base and adds import duty and other applicable taxes. Later, an organization of bullion sellers decide at which rate the gold will be given to retailers which makes the gold price in Lucknow and across India volatile and subject to change.

With the introduction of GST, excise duty and VAT has been replaced with 3% GST on the value of gold.

Some of the factors which causes the gold prices in Lucknow to fluctuate:

Interest Rates: Increase in rates makes fixed income investments more attractive for a while as more and more people flock to fixed-income investments that generate a fixed return unlike gold where gold rates always fluctuate.

Rupee-dollar equation: Performance of the US dollar highly influences the gold rates in Lucknow and across India. A falling dollar will likely appreciate the price of gold in rupee terms and vice versa.

Geo-political crises: Gold usually does well during geopolitical turmoil and often seen as an alternative investment during times of political and financial uncertainty. It is because gold is considered as a safe haven and during such crises; people want to hold money in the form of gold which also impacts the demand for gold to Increase.

Inflation Index: Increase in inflation index leads to increase in the demand of gold in Lucknow as having money in the form of gold becomes a tool to hedge against inflationary conditions during those times.

Gold rates generally vary from state to state and listed below are some of the reasons behind this:

• Physical movement of gold from one state to another requires suitable security arrangement which is very high in case of gold. This adds up to the value of gold when it finally lands in Lucknow
• Different states have different bullion associations that determine the gold price in that particular state. Due to this today gold rate in Lucknow varies if compared with other states.

Gold is considered a perfect portfolio diversification tool which can help you hedge against inflation. Here are the ways through which you can invest in gold in Lucknow:

1. Sovereign Gold Bonds: Issued by the RBI, it is one way to own gold in paper form. The tenor of SGBs is 8 years with the exit option available after the 5th year. An individual can invest in these bonds with a minimum 1gm and the maximum one can invest is 4 Kg. Investing in SGBs will help you earn an assured interest which will be credited semiannually. One can buy these bonds either through online mode or from banks, stock exchanges, designated post offices, etc. However, SGBs are not available round the year but are notified by the government from time to time.
2. Gold Monetisation Scheme (Used to be Gold Deposit Scheme): Under this scheme, one can deposit their gold jewellery/gold for short term, medium term and long term with designated banks and earn interest. The interest rates vary and are decided by the central government.
3. Gold Coins/bars: Available in denominations of 1gm, 5gm, 10gm, one can start investing in gold/gold bars either through online, or buy it from a jeweller. However, make sure you check the buyback terms and buy only 24KT coin with 99.9% purity. If you buy gold coins from the MMTC-PAMP website, you can later sell your coins to them.
4. Digital Gold: Various mobile wallets (Paytm, Freecharge) and other online platforms such as Gold Rush, Me-gold offer digital gold or e-gold where it allows customers to accumulate gold in their wallet. One can get started from as low as Rs.1 and corresponding amount of gold will be credited in your account. All of these mobile applications are associated with MMTC-PAMP. However, one should know that investing online using these mediums won’t earn you any interest.

Before investing in Gold or in gold jewellery, one should know certain aspects about gold and here they are:

• It is important to know the current gold rate in Lucknow per gram before you are out buying gold
• Always buy BIS hallmarked gold to ensure purity
• If you are purchasing gold coin or gold jewellery through online, make sure you get a hallmark certificate that will give you an accurate and official recording of total gold in the gold coin or in jewellery
• Gold coins usually come in tamper-proof packaging. If you are buying gold coins to resell it later, make sure you do not open the packaging and keep the original invoice with you
• Check buy-back terms from the seller if you want to exchange it latter
• Ensure your bill contains important details about the gold coin/ gold jewellery you have bought such as karat, weight, and price per gram

Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) is the governing body which certifies the purity of gold and hallmarks gold coin and jewellery. BIS sign ensures the gold used for making jewellery adheres to the international standards of purity. As per the website of BIS, one needs to look at the following components on the gold jewellery and coins:

For Gold Jewellery,

1. BIS Mark
2. Purity in Karat and fineness classified as
   • 958 – 23 Carat
   • 916 – 22 Carat
   • 750 – 18 Carat
   • 585 – 14 Carat
3. Assaying and Hallmarking Centre’s Identification mark/number
4. Jeweller’s Identification mark/number

For gold coins

• BIS Mark
• Karat
• Fineness

Note: Aforementioned details are engraved on the hallmark gold. From 15 Jan 2021, it will be mandatory for jewellers to sell only 14 carat, 18 carat, 22 carat hallmarked jewellery.

In case of financial emergency, you can use your gold jewellery as collateral to get loan against gold jewellery in Lucknow. Various banks and financial institutions offer loans against jewellery in Lucknow. One needs to approach the bank and based on the purity and weight of the gold jewellery, loan amount will be sanctioned. In return, the borrower needs to pay the interest and capital back .