Rather, an investor receives a certificate listing the amount of the gold purchased, while a bank or other organization obtains and holds onto the metal on behalf of the certificate owner.
But deregulation has seen an explosion in gold purchases.
"Nor is there any official target amount of gold purchases.
There was more loosening in 1996 when Gokhran, a state agency that formerly had a monopoly on gold purchases, surrendered that role.
The restless Italian Secret sauce Reprints Related items India's gold purchase: Adornment and investmentNov 5th 2009Mr Draghi has shuttled to and from Italy throughout his career.
He said central banks were turning back to gold purchases in line with a century of practice between 1870 and 1970.
UBC's huge gold purchases had raised suspicions that the bank was in fact a "secret nest egg" hidden in New York for Thyssen and other Nazi bigwigs.
Mindful of the hyperinflation that wreaked havoc in Germany during the 1920s, German investors have been at the forefront of gold purchases in Europe.
A striking example from U.S. history is Franklin Roosevelt's 40 percent devaluation of the dollar against gold in 1933-34, enforced by a program of gold purchases and domestic money creation.
The OMFIF report found that central bank purchases over the past eight years have returned to the 100-year average up to 1970 when annual net gold purchases were 350 tonnes a year.
So, for gold purchases, customers expect to haggle furiously over prices: sellers down at the bazaar will bargain, whereas the new chains have fixed prices.However, as incomes rise, customers' ideas are changing.
