Sovereign Gold Bonds: Premature redemption to be allowed for these tranches – Key dates to apply, redeem SGBs

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has released a calendar for premature redemption of Sovereign Gold Bonds (SGB) between October 2025 and March 2026. It mentions the dates and deadlines for investors who want to withdraw money before the maturity period of the bond.

According to the scheme’s rules, any sovereign gold bond can be redeemed prematurely after five years have passed. Otherwise, SGBs mature in 8 years. During these 6 months (October 2025 to March 2026), several tranches issued between May 2018 and March 2021 will be eligible for redemption.

Investors can submit their redemption requests within the stipulated period through receiving offices, NSDL, CDSL or RBI’s Retail Direct Platform. The RBI has also clarified that if an unexpected holiday falls on a scheduled date, the redemption date may change.

Sovereign Gold Bond (SGB) Premature Redemption Schedule (Oct 2025 – Mar 2026)

(Source: RBI)

SGB Series IX issue: Investors earned 147% returns in 5 years

The RBI earlier this month opened the redemption window for 2019-20 Series IX SGBs, fixing the price at Rs 10,070 per gram. The bonds were issued for Rs 4,070 per 10 grams in September 2019, giving investors a whopping 147% returns on investment in 5 years on premature redemption.

Apart from this Series IX issue, the RBI also opened for premature redemption Series V, which would have earned investors 89% return and around 13.5% CAGR over 5 years. These returns exclude 2.5% fixed interest, which is paid every six months to investors.

It is worth noting that the government launched the SGB scheme in 2015 to reduce the demand for physical gold. Minister of State for Finance Pankaj Chaudhary said in Parliament recently that till March 31, 2025, about 146.96 tonnes of gold, worth about Rs 72,275 crore, was issued under this SGB scheme through a total of 67 installments. Out of this, about 18.81 tonnes of gold has been redeemed by investors till June 15, 2025.

Chaudhary also stated that due to global geopolitical tensions, gold prices rose sharply, increasing the cost of borrowing through SGB for the government. The minister said that new installments will be brought only after the cost impact is assessed.