Gold Savings Schemes
The 10–11 month jeweller instalment plans, priced honestly: what you pay, what the bonus is really worth per month of your money, the annualised return if the full bonus applies — and the boring bank RD they all have to beat.
Compare the schemes every row editable · add your branch's quote
| scheme | months | bonus — % of 1 instalment | you pay | bonus | worth at redemption | % / month | ≈ annual |
|---|
Bonus columns are pre-filled with each chain's published “up to” structure — indicative, conditional, revised with every brochure. Edit them to your branch's actual quote. % / month is the money-weighted (IRR) monthly return — the honest number, since your early instalments sit with the jeweller far longer than the last one. The RD row is computed at 6.5% for the same pattern of deposits.
Your actual passbook flexi instalments · file never leaves your browser
Flexi plans let every month's amount differ, so the table above can only approximate your plan. Enter the instalments you actually paid — or drop the scheme passbook / payment export as .csv or .xlsx (needs a Date column and an Amount column; parsed entirely in your browser, nothing is uploaded) — and get your true money-weighted return.
§1How these schemes actually work
You pay a fixed (or, in “flexi” plans, variable) instalment for 10–11 months. At maturity you must buy jewellery from the same chain, and the shop adds a bonus — typically expressed as a fraction of one instalment. GRT's Golden Eleven Flexi is the archetype: pay 11, and the plan adds up to one more instalment's worth when you redeem. It is a purchase advance, not an investment — the exit is always a jewellery bill, never cash.
That 18.6% looks unbeatable next to an RD — and that's the point of the design. The catch is the word if: the bonus arrives as a discount against a jewellery purchase whose wastage, stone and rate lines are set by the same shop. Read §3.
§2Reading the comparison table
You pay is your total outflow. Worth at redemption is your purchasing power on the bill. % / month is the number to compare across schemes with different lengths — a 75%-of-instalment bonus over 10 months and a 100% bonus over 11 months are closer than they look, because the shorter plan releases your money sooner. The RD row deposits the same instalment at a bank instead: its return is smaller but unconditional, in cash, insured up to ₹5 lakh — and doesn't require you to buy anything. (RD interest is taxable at slab; scheme bonuses aren't taxed, but they aren't money either.)
§3The strings attached
Most plans pay the bonus only against ornaments — coins and bars are excluded, precisely because those have no wastage margin. The bonus you “earn” is recovered through the VA, stone and rate lines of the redemption bill. Negotiate the bill as if the bonus didn't exist; check the effective ₹/gram on the jewellery bill calculator before feeling grateful.
Miss instalments or exit early and the bonus shrinks to zero — you typically get only your own money back, sometimes after a wait, always as a purchase credit at some chains. The schemes' economics depend on breakage; don't start one against uncertain cash flow.
Your instalments are an advance to a private company — no DICGC insurance, no RBI deposit protection. The big chains have honoured schemes for decades, but smaller jewellers defaulting on scheme money is a recurring news item. Treat the counterparty question as seriously as the return.
Your money grows in rupees while gold moves on its own. If gold rises 15% during your 11 months, the ~9% bonus didn't even keep up. Some chains offer gram-based variants — each instalment converts to grams at that day's rate — which is rate protection worth asking for. (The 12-month cap on these schemes comes from company-deposit law, which is also why no plan runs longer.)
§4Related
Redeeming a scheme? Decode the bill on the jewellery price calculator. Comparing returns? RD and SIP. Need money against gold you already own — gold loan.