Gold: World Gold Council data reveals yellow metal demand in India, check details
The demand in the jewellery segment declined 47% and both the consumers and the manufacturers are looking for a good year in 2021
Sumita Mukherjee, a school teacher in Kolkata, had her daughter’s marriage in November last year. But she had to curtail on expenditure, thanks to the economic hardships and uncertainty.
“We bought a small quantity of gold ornaments due to the high prices at that time. We initially thought of gifting her two necklaces, but then settled for one,” said Mukherjee.
But if you thought the demand for gold is doing down since the pandemic struck the vital sectors of the economy and shrunk your wallets, you are wrong. It was going down since 2018, according to data released by the World Gold Council (WGC).
Dip in demand
In a recent report published by the WGC it was revealed that the demand for gold jewellery in India in 2018 was 598 tonnes.
It went down to 545 tonnes, or by 8.86%, in 2019.
In 2020, the demand for jewellery nosedived to 315 tonnes, which marked a 47.32% dip compared to 2018 and 42.20%, vis-à-vis 2019.
The study also reveals that in 2018 calendar year the total domestic demand of gold in India was 760.4 tonnes. In 2019 it went down to 690.4 tonnes, or by 9.2%, and in COVID-hit 2020, the demand dived to 446.2 tonnes.
The dip in aggregate gold demand in 2020 was 41.3%, compared to 2018 and 35.37% compared to 2019.
Outlook
“We should observe the overall market trends in a holistic manner in the forthcoming months to arrive at a right conclusion. Factors such as low base effect, reduction in gold price, reduction in import duty may increase the demand again in the country.” said Colin Shah, chairman, Gem and Jewellery Export Promotion Council (GJEPC).
Says Chittaranjan Dutta, a retired police officer from Hooghly district of Bengal: “Our son’s marriage will take place in December this year. The price declined from the Rs 58,000/10 gram levels in August and we have purchased some jewellery already and intend to buy some more for our daughter-in-law,” said Dutta.
The industry is also betting on this hope. “Despite the second wave of COVID-19 we hope this year will be better. Gold imports too rose to record levels in March,” remarked Suvra Chandra, owner of PC Chandra Jewellers.
“Growth in imports of gold indicates the positive sentiment in the domestic and international market. I am also expecting growth in exports of jewellery in the current fiscal,” said Shah.