To protect the savings of poor and middle class people against inflation and to wean them away from buying gold, the Reserve Bank of India will kick off the first tranche of inflation-indexed bonds (IIBs) on June 4 for `1,000-2,000 crores, and thereafter there will be monthly sales. The total issue will be for `12,000-15,000 crores in 2013-14.
The bonds will be issued for 10 years in tranches, with each IIB tranche being for `1,000-2,000 crores. After June 4, each tranche will be issued regularly through auctions on the last Tuesday of each month in 2013-14.
This is a follow-up to the announcement by the Union finance minister, Mr P. Chidambaram, in the 2013-14 Budget that the government will introduce instruments to protect the savings of the poor and middle classes from inflation and incentivise households to save in financial instruments rather than buy gold.