Thiruvanantpuram: The Kerala Circle of SBI is all set to venture in to Gold Coin Business. SBI the premier public sector bank in India is going to sell gold coins via its selected branches in Kerala.

Commencing from November 1, this venture is targeted at adding another popular product into the existing bouquet of SBI's retail services. India is one of the biggest consumer of gold. Buying gold is a very popular practice among consumers in India, and the demand of pure gold rises dramatically during the festive and marriage seasons.  SBI will provide best quality gold at economical prices to capture a significant part of this segment.

This scheme will be introduced in stages and the first stage will witness the launch of 5gm gold coins from the SBI branches at Ernakulam, NRI Ernakulam, NRI Thiruvananthapuram, Thiruvananthapuram, Thrissur and Kozhikode. Later this scheme will be extended to other parts of the state.

Many banks offer pure and certified gold coins to cater to the vast market in India. Kotak Mahindra Bank, a new bank in the private sector had issued 210 kg of gold coins last year and has set up a target to sell 500 kg of such coins this year. Bank of Baroda (BoB) had also launched gold coins of 99.99 purity earlier this month.