Page 21 - Bullion World Volume 02 Issue 08 September 2022

IGC 2022 COVERAGE Bullion World | Volume 2 | Issue 09 | September 2022

not able to buy standard products such as 5 gm and
Discussion on Tech-backed gold products 10gm coins due to the ticket size. They were keen on
investing at regular intervals, but they could not locate
Moderator: any platform which can enable them to do so. ETFs
Mr Sudheesh Nambiath, IGPC, IIMA were there but ETFs do not offer physical gold.

Panellists: We were always bullion traders. We had the Spot
Mr Gaurav Mathur, Managing Director, Safe Gold platform, which was B2B with a pan-India presence
Mr Ketan Kothari, Director, Augmont and network. Through the spot platform, we were
Mr Ritesh Singh, CTO, Bright Metal Refiners offering 100 gm and 1kg gold as well as one kg silver
Mr Aditya Gupta, Rupeek products. We do purchase gold, and leverage gold
Ms Saroja Yeramilli, Founder & CEO, Melorra through lending and monetisations against GMS or
outright sale. Having a successful B2B platform and
Mr Sudheesh Nambiath, IGPC, a refinery, enabled us to offer digital gold to retail
IIMA: We have entrepreneurs with customers and thereby complete the life cycle. The
us here. To start off, it has been products that we launched in the digital gold space are
12 to 15 years since the launch of (a) loans against gold during covid and (b) deposits
jewellery retailing. Many retailers under GMS. Given our experience in this space and
are moving into brick and mortar our network, we could scale in digital space.
also. We have seen valuations of http://goldconference.in/presentation/Day2/Ketan_
some of these companies exceed Kothari.pdf
some of the traditional jewellers. What is the way
forward for the sector? Mr Sudheesh Nambiath: Ritesh, what is the USP of
your digital gold product?
Second, Digital gold is five years old. It had good
growth until last year when certain regulatory Mr Ritesh Singh, CTO, Bright
provisions slowed down its progress. We have three Metal Refiners: We are directly
speakers from digital gold. So let me start with them. backed by a refinery- Bright Metal
Refinery. We offer investments
Gaurav, are you running a fin-tech company or a starting from Rs. 10. We also
tech-fin company? offer gifting options. We have
made the platform very easy for
Mr Gaurav Mathur, Managing people to use. So, people with no
Director, Safe Gold: About 70% prior knowledge of tech can use our platform. Being a
of our employees are computer refiner-back proposition, it is cheaper for the customer.
science graduates. So, we are These are our USPs.
a technology company. Digital
gold is one of the financial Mr Sudheesh Nambiath: Gaurav, what new things
products that plugin very neatly do you offer to your customers, being one of the
with technology platforms such oldest players in the industry?
as Paytm, Phonepe, etc., each of which has over 100
million customer base. With UPI and other payment Mr Gaurav Mathur: In the digital gold space, there are
enablement, growth opportunities are immense. a bunch of companies that offer standard products-
smaller investment options, delivery of physical metal,
Mr Sudheesh Nambiath: Ketan, what is the gap you 24/7 operation, buy-sell option and so on. Moving
have noticed that pushed you into digital gold? beyond these takes a lot of time and effort. We tied up
with a lot of jewellers so that your balance in Safe Gold
Mr Ketan Kothari, Director, can be redeemed against jewellery purchases or you
Augmont: There is a problem in can pay a part of your purchase through digital
the market that is unaddressed.
During festivals such as Diwali, gold and so on. Recently, we tied up with a credit card
Akshaya Tritiya etc, there is a company where your Safe Gold balance can be used
sudden rush of customers wanting as collateral. There are six fintech companies that
to buy. We have also noticed issue credit cards. These card companies are ok with
a lot of these customers were giving a limit against your gold as collateral.

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