Government has received 63,000 applications for 917 kilos of paper gold worth 246 crore rupees for the first tranche of sovereign gold bonds. In a tweet Department of Economic Affairs Secretary Shaktikanta Das wrote the first tranche of gold bonds was open for subscription during November 5th to 20th November. Bonds will be issued on November 30 as per the revised schedule. He wrote that large number of applications have been received by banks and post offices. The government has launched the scheme to discourage purchase of gold for investment purposes, a practice that was pressure on current account deficit.