For gold retailers, it seems to be another glittering year in spite of the rising prices. On the eve of Akshaya Thritiya, the country?s biggest gold buying festival, sales were brisk as people flocked jewelers to buy the yellow metal.
?Crash in share market and scorching real estate prices have been driving the investors towards gold in recent times. This trend increased during the festival week when price of bullion ruled at $860-870 an ounce compared to above $1,000 levels in March,? said K Shivaram, vice-president of World Gold Council (WGC).
While declining to give any sales projections, he said festival sales this year would cross last year?[s mark of 55 tonne of gold.
In addition, this time the festival is being celebrated on two days – May 7 and 8. What has come as a bonanza for the retailers is that this year, the festival falls in the first week of the month when the employees are cash-rich after getting their salaries. Last year the festival was celebrated during the third week of the month on April 18 when the yellow metal price was around 20% lower than the current levels.
Even bankers offered special discounts on a par with the retailers this festival to woo new customers. ICICI Bank offered cash discounts ranging from Rs 250 to Rs 2,500 on the coins weighing 5-50 grams, while Bangalore-based Canara Bank also joined the fray by introducing retail sales of the yellow metal.
Reliance Jewels, the jewellery arm of Reliance Retail Ltd in Bangalore, offered free gold coins on gold and diamond jewellery purchases above Rs 30,000 and discounts in making charges.
Likewise almost all major jewelers in South India have announced special offers during festival week to cash-in on the opportunity.
In fact, India imported 722 tonne of gold in 2007, much lesser than the 1,000 tonne estimated by the WGC. However, this year gold sales is expected to revive from this festival followed by marriage season and other festivals and growing interest of investors towards gold after getting hurt in the volatile equity market.