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Muthoot Exim launches gold recycling centre in Kolkata |
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KOLKATA: Muthoot Exim, the precious metals division of the 128-year-old Muthoot Pappachan Group (MPG), which was the first to launch gold recycling in the organised sector, has opened its gold recycling centre in Kolkata on Tuesday. This is the fifth centre in the country, after Coimbatore, Chennai, Delhi & Mumbai.
The company plans to have 16 Muthoot Gold Point centres by the end of 2017 and recycle about two tonnes of scrap gold by 2018. Muthoot Exim is the first organised player to foray into gold recycling that would directly cut down the import of gold and control the account deficit, which the Government also in the recent times is aggressively pursuing through gold monetization schemes.
The company through its centres will buy old and used gold items directly from the customers, reprocess, refine and supply refined bars for domestic consumption, with an objective of reducing dependence on gold imports. After the initiative was launched in November 2015, the company was able to recycle 60 kgs of used gold.
"We plan to launch two more such centres by March 2016. The next phase will include Telengana and Gujarat this year," said Thomas Muthoot, Executive Director of Muthoot Pappachan Group. He also added that by the end of 2017, the number of centres will go up to 16.
"It gives us immense pleasure to announce the launch of Muthoot Gold Point centre at Bhowanipur in Kolkata. Muthoot Gold Point has a strategic significant importance, as it aligns with Government's objectives and supreme priority of keeping Current Account Deficit (CAD) under control, by garnering and channelizing domestic unused gold to productive use and also to provide a standardised, transparent and scientific platform to end customers to sell their gold," said Keyur Shah, CEO, Muthoot Precious Metals Division.
According to estimates, gold recycling has not been tapped to its fullest in India and it mostly happens in the unorganized sector. Elaborating on this new business, Mr Keyur Shah added, "We have tied up with Mumbai based Infinium Precious Resources Ltd for attaining technical training and also for refining the scrap gold''.
Source : economictimes.indiatimes.com
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