SGBs are government securities denominated in grams of gold and issued by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on behalf of the Government of India. These bonds are substitutes for holding physical gold and can be redeemed on maturity. These were issued in 64 tranches since their inception in 2015. Here is a look at what the numbers indicate. The most recent tranche of issues of ‘Sovereign Gold Bonds’ (SGBs) was opened for the period 19-23 June 2023. This is the 64 tranche issued since the inception of the scheme. This tranche is also the first for the year 2023-24. The issue price of the bond during this period was Rs. 5,926 per gram. SGBs are government securities denominated in grams of gold and issued by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on behalf of the Government of India. These bonds are substitutes for holding physical gold and can be redeemed on maturity. Our explainer on ‘Sovereign Gold Bonds’ can be read here. In this story, we look at the trends in the SGBs scheme since its inception. The data is obtained from the Dataset on SGBs available on Dataful, which is compiled from data provided by the Reserve Bank of India. Highest number of tranches in 2017-18, with a decline in recent years The first tranche of the SGBs was issued on 30 November 2015. This was the only series (Series -I) in that calendar year. In 2016, two more series (Series-I & Series-II) were issued, during February and March. Overall, 3 tranches were announced during 2015-16. Since 2016-17, the ‘Series’ are numbered within the financial year. Hence in 2016-17, the scheme was announced in 4 tranches, and the units subscribed belonged to Series I, II, III & IV respectively. In 2017-18, the units were issued in 14 different tranches. This also happens to be the highest number of tranches in a single financial year. After that, the most tranches were in 2020-21, with 12 tranches. There is a decline in the number of tranches at 10 and 4 respectively in the subsequent years. More than 11 crores units subscribed under the SGBs scheme since introduction Any resident of India defined under FEMA, 1999 is eligible to invest in this scheme. Eligible investors include individuals, Hindu Undivided Family (HUFs), trusts, universities, and charitable institutions. The bonds are issued in denominations of one gram, which is counted as a unit. The maximum limit for subscription is 4 kg for Individuals and HUFs and 20 kg for trusts and other similar entities. In the first tranche issued in November 2015, more than 9.14 lakh units were subscribed. This increased to 28.7 lakh units in the next tranche. In 2016-17, the subscriptions per tranche were around the same number with the highest in the third tranche with 35.98 lakh units. Overall, a total of 113.88 lakh units were subscribed in 2016-17. In the first three issues of 2017-18, the subscriptions were round about the same levels as in 2016-17. However, there was a sharp decline in the number of units subscribed in the rest of the tranches for the year. The trend of low subscriptions continued even during 2018-19 and 2019-20. Recovery was observed since the beginning of 2020-21. A new high was achieved in the fourth issue of 2020-21 with 41.3 lakh units. In the next tranche, 63.5 lakh units were subscribed, making it the highest. The total subscriptions for the year 2020-21 were 323.5 lakh units, which remains to be the highest number of subscriptions in a year. Following this, there have been a series of ups and downs in the subscriptions. The greatest number of subscriptions in a single tranche was the most recent one. In the recently concluded 64 tranche i.e., the first for 2023-24, a total of 77.7 lakh units were subscribed, the most for any tranche till date. Around 13 lakh units were redeemed pre-maturely till now The tenor of the bond is 8 years. The bonds bear an interest rate of 2.5% per annum on the amount of initial investment. This amount is credited semi-annually. The bonds matured after 8 years, and the redemption price is the average price of gold of 999 purity for the last three days from the date of repayment. However, early encashment/redemption is allowed after the fifth year from the date of issue. The bond is also tradable on exchange if it is held in demat form. There is also a provision for transferring the bonds to any other eligible investor. The first tranche of bonds was issued in November 2015. Hence, the bonds issued in this tranche will only mature by the end of 2023. This implies that as of date, none of the bonds subscribed are matured. However, many investors have exercised the option of pre-mature redemption over the years. Data indicates that, so far around 13 lakh units were redeemed pre-maturely.