India’s gold market took an important step towards greater integration with the commencement of live trading in the Electronic Gold Receipts (EGR) segment on the National Stock Exchange of India (NSE) today. Enabled through the collaboration between NSE and Augmont Enterprises Limited, the launch brings together NSE’s regulated exchange infrastructure and Augmont’s integrated physical gold ecosystem, creating a new avenue for investors to trade physically backed gold.
On its opening day, the EGR segment witnessed active two-way trading, with 1,60,357 units traded by approximately 04:25 PM, representing around 6 kg of gold. The trading activity translated into a cumulative traded value of approximately Rs. 23.34 crore during the first session. The segment also demonstrated orderly price discovery, with prices remaining within a narrow intraday range of Rs. 1,450.50 to Rs. 1,460.00. The bid-ask spread remained between Rs. 0.50 and Rs. 1.00, indicating continuous two-way quotations and an active order book.
Each EGR represents 100 mg of physical gold, with the underlying gold held in SEBI-regulated vaults. Investors can buy and sell EGRs through their demat accounts on the exchange, while retaining the option of converting their holdings into physical gold, subject to the applicable framework. The segment follows a T+1 settlement cycle, under which trades executed on a particular day are settled on the next business day, facilitating the transfer of securities and funds through the exchange’s regulated clearing and settlement mechanism.
Under the strategic collaboration, Augmont serves as a key physical gold and infrastructure partner for NSE’s EGR segment, supporting the creation, vaulting, redemption and liquidity ecosystem. The gold backing the EGRs is sourced through Augmont’s integrated refining infrastructure, bringing together physical gold processing and exchange-based trading within a regulated framework.
The commencement of live trading marks an important step towards building a more transparent and accessible gold market in India. By enabling standardised gold to be traded through an exchange-based mechanism, EGRs have the potential to strengthen price discovery, improve market participation and create a more integrated ecosystem for physical gold.
Ketan Kothari, Whole-time Director, Augmont Enterprises Limited, said: “The commencement of EGR trading marks the transition of our collaboration with NSE from building the underlying infrastructure to enabling a live, exchange-traded gold market. The day-one trading activity, continuous two-way quotations and orderly price discovery are important initial milestones for a new market segment.
At Augmont, we have brought together our refining capabilities and physical gold infrastructure to support the creation, vaulting and redemption of EGRs. We believe this initiative can play an important role in making physical gold more accessible, transparent and integrated with India’s formal financial ecosystem. Our focus remains on strengthening the ecosystem and supporting its wider adoption among investors, brokers and other market participants.”
