The second tranche of sovereign gold bond scheme, which is aimed at reducing demand for physical gold, will open for five days next week. The Finance Ministry said the scheme will be available for public subscription from 18th to 22nd January. The first tranche of the scheme, which was launched in November last year, had got a subscription for 915.95 kilogram gold amounting to 246 crore rupees. The Gold Bond scheme has an annual cap of 500 grams per person and such bonds will be issued for 5-7 years.Finance Minister Arun Jaitley has asked Chairman and Managing Directors (CMDs) of banks to make their best efforts to reach out to potential investors to invest in the second tranche of Sovereign Gold Bonds. During a video conferencing with the bank CMDs yesterday, Mr. Jaitley discussed their preparedness for the launch of the second tranche and said the government is keen to expand the scheme in subsequent tranches as well. A Finance Ministry statement said the banks gave an assurance that they will do their best to activate their branch network to inform potential investors about the advantage of the bonds. It added that, to increase awareness among depositors, the government is continuing with the media campaign on AIR and FM radio, in print media and through mobile SMS campaign.