Ranchi, Oct. 14: If gold designs are not leaving people spoilt for choice, places to buy the shining metal sure are.

Buying gold coins this Diwali has turned into a thoughtful task as buyers have to use their discretion whether to buy it from jewellery shops, banks or post offices.

Stuck in this furious competition, 30-year-old Manju Thanvi did what she has been doing in the past. She went to her trusted jeweller in the city and bought a gold coin. Thanvi said: “The reason I decided to buy it from the shop are one, the banks charge a huge margin and two, we buy gold coins and bars as a form of investment. If required, I can sell it back to the same jeweller.”

But everyone is not going her way with many thinking of banks as a viable and trusted option.

Currently, almost all state-run and private sector banks — Axis Bank, ICICI Bank, Indus Bank and SBI — in the capital are selling gold coins through their branches. They have Swiss made imported gold coins of 99.95 per cent purity. However, there is a huge difference in rates of coins sold at banks and jewellery shops. On Wednesday, Axis Bank quoted Rs 18,547 of 10g gold coin while the same was available for Rs 15,850 with local gold merchants.

“The going has become tough for us as the jewellers also are selling 24-carat gold coins with quality certification. They have the advantage on the price front. Our price is higher as banks have to bear with sales and administrative expenses for selling gold coins that gets passed on to customers. And they have a bigger customers base and purchase back gold which the RBI does not allow us,” said an official of the Lalpur branch of ICICI.

Paresh Mukherjee of Tirupati Jewellers at Main Road said: “The gold coins, which we are selling, are not inferior to those sold by banks. We are providing 24-carat gold with a hallmark certifying its purity. Our coin rates are also lower.”

The scenario at the post offices that has just stepped into the venture is looking up. “This is the first time we have forayed into selling of gold coins and the response has been tremendous. We are selling Reliance Money gold coins that guarantee 99.99 per cent purity,” said K.N. Tiwari, the post master at the Doranda post office.