A 10g gold coin of India Post. (Sudeshna Banerjee)

On Akshay Tritiya, the postal department struck gold in the city. Such was the demand for the 24-carat gold coins bearing the India Post logo on Friday that many post offices in the city ran out of stock hours before closing time.

India Post has been retailing gold coins through select post offices since 2010. So long, the coins were available in denominations of 1g, 5g, 8g and 20g. For Akshay Tritiya, 10g and 50g coins were introduced. Sales figure were not available till late on Friday.

“We have undertaken this project in association with the World Gold Council and Reliance Money. The coins are manufactured by Valcambi SA, Switzerland-based refiners. They come in a tamper-proof package and are certified by internationally recognised assayers,” said Gautam Bhattacharya, post master general, Calcutta.

At Ballygunge post office, a huddle had formed around Sumit Chowdhury who was selling the coins. “I buy gold coins every year for Akshay Tritiya from banks. This year, I saw an ad and came here,” said Kaberi Roy, a housewife from Ballygunge Place. But the post office had run out of 10g coins by 2.30pm. So she had to settle for two 5g coins.

Hariranjan Bhattacharya, a retired government official, had come to the post office on other work but was quick to queue up. “Gold makes for good investment and the postal department guarantees purity,” he said.

“We had to refuse so many customers who came later. Who knew Akshay Tritiya would emerge as such a bumper sales opportunity?” said Chowdhury.

Park Street post office called for more supply around 2pm as it ran out of stock. Alipore post office also sold out its entire stock of 100g of gold.

West Bengal has been making it to the top five of the national gold coin sale list. “If such is the response, we will surely go higher,” said a senior business development department official. A six per cent discount will be on offer till June 30.