What is World Gold Council (WGC)?

About World Gold Council: 

• It is the market development organisation for the gold industry.
• It is a nonprofit association formed in 1987 whose members comprise the world’s leading and most forward-thinking gold mining companies.
• The WGC was established to promote the use of and demand for gold through marketing, research, and lobbying. 
• Headquartered in London, with operations in India, China, Singapore, and the USA, the WGC covers the markets which comprise about three-quarters of the world's annual gold consumption.
• The WGC is also the global authority on gold, and they offer comprehensive analyses of the industry. 
• It aims to maximize the industry's potential growth by monitoring and defending existing gold consumption.
  • It achieves this by setting up gold standards, proposing policies, ensuring fairness and sustainability in the gold mining industry, and promoting the usage and demand for gold for individuals, industries, and institutions.
• It also co-sponsors research in the development of new uses for gold, or of new products containing gold. 
• WGC was the creator of the first gold exchange-traded fund.

Q1: What are Gold ETFs?

These are units representing physical gold which may be in paper or dematerialised form. One unit of this fund is equal to 1 gram of gold and is backed by physical gold of very high purity. They are listed and traded on the National Stock Exchange of India (NSE) and Bombay Stock Exchange Ltd. (BSE).

Source: WGC raises India's gold consumption projection to 850 tonnes in 2024