MUMBAI (Commodity Online): The State Bank of India (SBI) is offering discounted gold coins to employees of Indian Railways as part of its special salary package for railway employees.
The Indian Railways employs around 1.4 million people and as per Mr A.K. Brahmo, Chief Personnel Officer of the South Western Railway, almost 46% employees withdraw salaries from SBI. This means that close to 644,000 employees right now have access to discounted gold from the bank.
SBI is currently offering a 1% discount on gold coin purchases with denominations ranging from 2gms to 50 gms. Considering India's appetite for gold, the initiative of the SBI to directly tap into the employee network of Indian Railways may be an indication of similar programmes being launched by other banks.
And with increasing competition, it will be the consumer who will benefit from higher discounts, pushing up overall Indian demand and imports.
