Gold dealers eye festive demand

After witnessing a steep fall in demand for gold in 2016, retail jewellers are expecting a revival in demand during the auspicious occasion of Gudi Padwa, the beginning of New Year according to the Hindu calendar.

“Jewellery business has been subdued over the last two years because of several factors including jewellers strike opposing a hike in excise duty and severe cash crunch due to the demonetisation. We feel the worst is behind us and we are expecting a 2030 per cent growth in sales on Gudi Padwa this year,” said Aditya Pethe, director, Waman Hari Pethe (WHP) Jewellers.

In 2016, demand for gold in the domestic markets dropped to a seven year low as a month long jewellers strike against excise duty and new norms making PAN card mandatory for purchases above `2 lakh impacted sales in the first half of the year.

While the industry slowly returned to normalcy post jewellers strike, the surprise ban on high value currency notes led to a steep fall in demand as lot of gold purchases in the rural areas where done in cash.

During the year, Indians consumed 675.5 tonnes of gold, 21 per cent lower than the previous year.

According to the World Gold Council (WGC), Indian consumers are likely to buy between 650 tonnes — 750 tonnes of gold in 2017.

“There is a pent up demand for gold due to the cash crunch experienced over the past few months. The money squeeze following the note ban has eased. We are expecting good sales this Gudi Padwa, especially in gold jewellery. Besides gold coins and bullions, we are also expecting antique gold jewellery and temple jewellery to be more popular this Gudi Padwa,” said Ishu Datwani, founder, Anmol Jewellers.