The government today said that over 900 kilogrammes of gold have been mobilised so far under the Gold Monetisation Scheme. Economic Affairs Secretary Shaktikanta Das said this in a tweet. <br/><br/>He said, the scheme is making steady progress and it is expected that it will pick up in the coming months. The Scheme, which had not picked up initially, was fine-tuned to make it more attractive and convenient to encourage entities holding idle gold to participate in the scheme. <br/><br/>Under the Monetisation Scheme, launched on 5th of November last year, banks were authorised to collect gold for up to 15 years to auction them off or lend to jewellers from time to time. Depositors will earn up to 2.50 per cent interest per annum on it. <br/><br/>Currently, there are 46 Assaying and Hallmarking Centres which are qualified to act as Collection and Purity Testing Centre for handling gold under the scheme. India imports about 1,000 tonnes of gold every year and the precious metal is the second-highest component of the imports bill after crude oil. An estimated 20,000 tonnes of gold are lying with households and temples.