Gold is an important part of Indian culture and many families invest in gold for future purposes like marriage or retirement. It is better to invest in gold coins rather than jewelry due to lower fees. Banks sell pure gold coins but at a 10-15% premium over market rates. Jewelry shops offer cheaper rates but purity should be verified for small shops. Post offices and reputed institutions also sell coins at slightly higher rates than shops. Gold financiers are another option that also provide loans against gold deposits.

1. From
where to
purchase
Gold?

2. • Gold is part and parcel of Indian culture-
women love to wear gold jewellery and men
love to invest in gold for good returns.
Irrespective of income levels, every Indian
family have gold in one form or other and the
quantity depends on their financial strength.
Many families invest in Gold for future
purposes like children
marriage, retirement, etc.

3. • When planning to buy gold for investment purpose one
should consider investing in the form of coins & bars
instead of jewellery. There are few drawbacks in
investing in Jewellery. Jewellery gold attracts wastage
and making charges when we buy or sell. Gold coins of
24 Kt does not attract any such charges. Also if you
want to cash out gold jewellery it’s a bit tougher
compared to gold coins.
• So investing in Gold coins is the good option. Lets look
at the various sources from where we can buy gold in
the physical form (paper gold topic for some other day)
and the pros & cons of each source.

4. Banks – Trusted Sources, Premium
Rates
• Almost all the banks in India sell gold coins in various
weights and shapes. They offer coins weighing from 2
grams to 100 grams bars with 99.99% purity. Banks are the
most trusted places to buy pure gold coins as there is
almost zero percentage chances for fraud. The weight and
purity are 100% accurate. Also banks provide certificates of
purity for the gold coins they sell.
• On the flip side there are two disadvantages when we
choose to buy gold coins from banks. First one is the
premium price at which banks sell the gold, which is in
general 10% – 15% more than the market rate. Second one
is they don’t buy back the gold coins from you. The
moment you leave the bank after purchasing gold, it’s
impossible to sell the gold back to the banks.

5. Jewellery Shops – Cheaper
Rates, Verify Purity In Few Shops
• Can you name a town in India that does not
have a gold jewellery shop? May be it’s a
tough thing to do. Gold jewellery shops are the
most accessible sources for buying gold coins.
They sell the coins in variety of weights as
well as shapes. If you are religious, you can
buy the coins in the shape of the god you pray.
Otherwise you can grab a regular gold coin
that is available in the same form as in the
banks.

6. • Gold coins and bars offered at Gold shops are a lot
cheaper than the Banks. The purity of the gold is as
good as a bank if the gold shop is a highly reputed one.
But watch out and enquire the details thoroughly before
buying gold coins from small shops as they cheat at
times. Reputed gold shops provides purity certificate
for the gold coins and also they are sold in tamper proof
packs.
• So if you know a reputed gold jeweller in your area
who sells gold coins, then it’s the cheapest source to
buy gold coins.

7. • Another trustworthy sources to buy gold coins are
Indian Government Post Offices. They sell 24
karat 99% pure gold coins in various
denominations varying from 0.5 grams to 8
grams. Across India so far 630 post offices are
offering gold coins to it’s customers. So if you
live in a small town where you don’t find a bank
that sells gold coins then there are good chances
that your area head post selling the gold coins.

8. Post Offices – Trusted
Sources, Premium Rates
• Like the banks, the gold coins rates at post
office are slightly higher than the gold
jewellery shop. To know the price of gold
coins at post office, you have to visit the
nearest post office personally and ask for the
price.

9. Reputed Institutions – Trusted
Sources, Available In Few Cities
• Across the major cities of India, institutions
like Tanishq sell coins, bars and bricks of 24K
& 22K. They give guarantee for the purity of
gold and you can buy gold from 1 gram coin to
1 KG brick. Rates vary on the amount of gold
you are planning to buy. May be if you want to
buy 500 grams or 1 KG gold for any
institutional purpose, step into these
institutions and ask for a good discount.

10. Gold Financers – Another Source
For Gold Coins
• In the past couple of years many institutions
started lending loans against gold deposits across
India. Major financial players and reputed
organisations are getting in to gold loans business.
Apart from giving loans against gold, these
institutions also sell gold coins and they are a
good source to buy gold coins. Few of the finance
institutions that sell gold are Manapuram
Finance and Muthoot Finance.

11. • So to buy gold coins in India a wide range of
sources are available. You can choose the one
that fits your need.