New Delhi: The auspicious yellow metal, considered auspicious for any major occasion across Indian families, has been losing its lustre in many ways. Gold prices rebounded about 20 percent this year, touching a 15-month high earlier in May. Contrary to previous years, the huge spike in prices has led to lack of enthusiasm among buyers. If it is any indication, the occasion of Akshay Tritiya did not elicit the kind of response that jewellers would have ideally expected.
Gold buying on this day is considered auspicious and there is a lot of buying witnessed across the country on this day. According to reports, Indians bought three times less gold than last year during the Akshaya Tritiya this week, when it is considered fortunate to buy gold.
Faced with the dismal scenario, jewellery stores have now been spurred into offering heavy discounts.
Dealers are offering discounts of up to Rs. 1000 per ounce at the global spot benchmark. Popular stores had marked a 10 per cent discount on current gold prices, while others had increased the discount offer to 20 per cent to woo customers. Some even offered discount schemes to push sales.
Figures tell the sorry state of affairs. Gold demand in India in the first quarter of 2016 collapsed 39 percent. Several factors contributed to this. Rally in gold prices, the jewellers' strike and consumers delaying purchases in hopes of a price cut and India's import duty on gold announced in the national budget.
Also read: Gold prices soar, jewellers pin hopes on discounts this Akshaya Tritiya to woo customers
Gold, as a result, may even be losing its relevance. Though the demand was better than last week as consumers were making purchases for Akshaya Tritiya, the director at Waman Hari Pethe Jewellers Aditya Pethe said in a report that the overall demand is getting lower during the festival due to higher prices.
Also, rural demand in India accounts for about two-thirds of total gold consumption but purchases were hurt by droughts that have hit the earnings of millions of farmers.
Demand in other major trading centres also remained moderate. Singapore were quoted at 60-80 cents an ounce, lower than the usual of $1-$1.20 (Rs. 65- Rs. 70), while those in Hong Kong ranged from 10 to 60 cents. Prices in Tokyo were at a discount of $1 (Rs. 66 approx) to $2 (Rs. 134 approx) an ounce. Even the top consumer China, ranged between $1 (Rs. 66 approx) and $1.50 (Rs. 100 approx), largely unchanged from last week.
