True Balance – a fintech app operated by Balancehero India, has recently launched digital gold, in association with SafeGold, a digital platform that allows sale, purchase and delivery of 24k physical gold, in small sizes, 24*7. The new product will be targeted at Indians across rural and suburban cities, with minimum purchase prices as low as Re. 1 and purchase times lesser than 10 minutes.
With this new feature launch, True Balance aims to stay true to its mission of empowering the next billion Indian users and provide them with easy investment options. To follow within the quarter, is the launch of mutual funds on True Balance with key focus on financially securing daily wagers, a key segment of the Indian demographic. With an average ticket size of INR 150 across the board, True Balance is confident of achieving initial traction to the tune of 2,000 to 5,000 transactions within this year.
“India has traditionally considered gold to be a symbol of wealth. According to the World Gold Council, wedding purchases and other factors have helped increase India's gold jewellery demand by 5% or ~125 tonne, year on year”, opined Charlie Lee, Founder of True Balance, adding, “It therefore made complete sense for us to bring India's favoured choice of saving, gifting and wealth-building to our targeted 1 billion users across India”.
App users will have the liberty of purchasing digital gold in units of both rupees and grams. Once purchased, the digital gold balance of the user will reflect on the True Balance app, which can then be bought or sold 24*7 through the app. Mode of payment for this gold will be across payment gateways, gift cards, UPI and free points.
“We are delighted to partner with True Balance to bring a meaningful savings option to customers outside of metros, and believe that digital gold can usher in disciplined and efficient savings in an asset class that is widely understood and accepted by all customers in India”, said Gaurav Mathur, Founder & Managing Director of SafeGold.
“We are already seeing more than 2,000 transactions daily on the app for this product”, said Jatin Dawar, Head Payments & Business – India, True Balance, also sharing that a 2.5% cashback would be offered on all purchases, with discounted delivery charges. Soft launched this Diwali, the Digital Gold feature saw about 10,000 transactions in the first few days. Jatin added- that the number of daily transactions is expected to go up to 5,000 in the coming fiscal.
The bulk of these transactions will be seen coming from Tier-II, III & IV cities across India.
As not only the largest importer, but also the largest consumer and holder of gold internationally, Indian households are stockpiles of close to 25,000 tonnes of gold . Festivals such as Akshaya Tritaya see national gold purchases soar to 20+ tonnes , helping the national per annum sale of the precious metal cross 750 tonnes on an average.