Gold purchases shine 15-20 percent on Akshaya Tritiya; demand seen for coins, light weight jewellery

A 15-20 percent rise in purchases of gold jewellery was witnessed across the country on Wednesday, on the occasion of Akshaya Tritiya, a day-long festival when gold buying turns auspicious. Jewellers said shoppers across India, the leading consumer of gold, are chasing light-weight jewellery and coins. Volumes have risen by some 15 percent in the last two days, said Keyur Shah, CEO - Precious Metals Business, Muthoot Pappachan Group. The reason behind this year’s increase in volumes is the absence of deterrents. Purchases were relatively lower last year, in the aftermath of the demonetisation drive, announced in late 2016. [caption id=“attachment_4152745” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Customers making gold purchases. Representational image. Reuters.[/caption] “It has been a normal year so far and people are out buying jewellery today,” Shah said, adding that sales could even rise by 20 percent. The Confederation of All India Traders (CAIT) estimated a 20 to 25 percent increase in business on Wednesday, in comparison to other days. Gold was quoted at Rs 32,200 per 10 grams, while silver was quoted at Rs 40,100 per kg. Mumbai-based jeweller Kumar Jain told the PTI that stores are recording high footfalls, despite a rise in gold prices. The wedding season also begins Wednesday and as such buyers are picking up jewellery, orders for which were placed earlier. Traditional wedding jewellery apart, buyers are also ordering light-weight jewellery and gold coins, Jain added. “The trend is positive all across the country and the southern region too has seen good response since morning. The rise in prices has boosted footfalls and sales further,” India Bullion and Jewellers Association (IBJA) National Director and the CMD of P N Gadgil Jewellers, Saurabh Gadgil, told the PTI. On Akshaya Tritiya, buyers prefer shopping for gold between 3 pm and 10 pm. The seven-hour slot is supposedly auspicious for gold buying “Being a working day, the mahurat time is convenient. Looking at the current trend, business is likely to be better than last year,” Gadgil added. Pankaj Arora, the National Convenor of the Jewellers Federation of India, said that as per an estimate provided on Wednesday, gold worth Rs 2,000 crore was sold during the day, as against gold worth Rs 1400 crore sold on a typical day. Navneet Damani, Associate Vice President, Commodity Research, Motilal Oswal Commodities, said customers are benefiting from all the freebies on offer. “Since there has been a three percent jump in prices recently, jewellers have offering some freebies to  customers, to make it attractive for them. Freebies includes 100 percent-off on making charges, one percent extra gold on purchase of 100 gms or more, among others. Some companies selling online gold are offering instant cash back, while some are offering free making charges and delivery." Vijay Jain, CEO and Director of Orra, said he expects to log double-digit growth on Wednesday. Orra is offering a 25 percent discount on diamond jewellery and their making charges on gold jewellery stands at four percent.  Concurring with Jain, T S Kalyanaraman, CMD, Kalyan Jewellers, said the company has witnessed an over 25 percent growth in sales over the same period of the previous year. Buyers at Kalyan are ordering wedding jewellery and light-weight jewellery.  “Two ongoing campaigns - free gold coins against select purchases and a lottery that will hand over 25 Mercedes cars - have added to the excitement.” The union government’s efforts in educating buyers about hallmarked jewellery has clearly helped the industry. Two days ago, a Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) statement urged people to purchase only hallmarked jewellery from licenced outlets.