Asset management firm SBI Mutual Fund has launched a new fund offer, SBI Gold

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Exchange Traded Fund (ETF), under which customers can invest in gold without buying or storing physical gold.

"It is a convenient product and will give an opportunity to an investor to invest in the purest form of gold without the need of buying and storing physical gold, that too, without a dematerialised account unlike gold exchange traded funds," SBI MF Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer Deepak Chatterjee told reporters here.

He said that there was a demand for ETFs and the assets under ETF schemes in the country had crossed Rs 6,000 crore last month.

The minimum investment in the fund would be Rs 5,000. The new fund offer will open on August 22 and close on September 5, the fund house said.

The fund house will offer systematic investment plan, wherein the customer can invest Rs 500 per month for an year or Rs 100 per month for 5 years.

SBI MF Chief Investment Officer Navneet Munot said, "Gold could show some volatility in future and hence the SIP route makes more sense. Looking at the current global economic conditions and stock market volatility, gold is a better option".

The fund house said that the investors could avail gold loans from the country's largest lender State Bank of India for gold exchange traded funds.

At the end of June quarter, SBI MF managed assets worth Rs 47,874 crore. State Bank of India is the sponsor of the fund.