The Reserve Bank of India has amended the regulations which relate to the eligibility criteria for making deposits under the gold monetisation scheme. In a notification on Wednesday, the central bank said that the Gold Monetization Scheme, 2015 has been amended immediate effect.

"Persons eligible to make a deposit - Resident Indians [Individuals, HUFs, Proprietorship & Partnership firms, Trusts including Mutual Funds/Exchange Traded Funds registered under SEBI (Mutual Fund) Regulations, Companies, charitable institutions, Central Government, State Government or any other entity owned by Central Government or State Government] can make deposits under the scheme," the central bank said in the notification.

Joint deposits of two or more eligible depositors are also allowed under the gold monetisation scheme, the RBI stated in its statement. The deposit in such cases shall be credited to the joint deposit account opened in the name of such depositors.

"The existing rules regarding joint operation of bank deposit accounts including nominations will be applicable to these gold deposits," the central bank clarified.

The RBI had tweaked the regulations for the gold monetisation scheme back in June last year to make it more lucrative. "The short term deposits shall be treated as bank's on-balance sheet liability. These deposits will be made with the designated banks for a short period of 1-3 years (with a facility of roll over). Deposits can also be allowed for broken periods (e.g. 1 year 3 months; 2 years 4 months 5 days; etc.)," RBI had said in its notification back then.