SEBI Tackles EGR Hurdles for Gold Price Discovery in India

• SEBI will investigate issues preventing Electronic Gold Receipts (EGRs) from becoming an effective benchmark for gold price discovery.
• EGRs are digital instruments representing physical gold, traded on stock exchanges to create a transparent national spot market.
• Challenges include structural, operational, regulatory hurdles, and the impact of GST, affecting liquidity and widespread acceptance.
• SEBI Chairman Tuhin Kanta Pandey highlighted strengthening the commodities market as a top priority and formed two working groups.
• EGRs were recognized as securities in December 2021, and SEBI launched the gold exchange ecosystem in January 2022.

Why It Matters: SEBI is actively addressing challenges to boost EGR acceptance and strengthen India's gold price discovery mechanism.