The Hindu Business Line : World Gold Council bullish on festival sales

GOLD EXPO: Singer-actress Vasundhara Das displays certified gold biscuits at a press conference to announce the Andhra Pradesh Gold Festival 2005 in Hyderabad on Saturday. Starting October 10, the mega event has 250 major jewellers participating from different parts of the State. — Satish H .

Hyderabad , Oct. 8

THE World Gold Council (WGC) is bullish on gold consumption and sales in the country during the ensuing festival season of Dusshera, Diwali and Ramzan.

The council expects an annual growth of over 30 per cent in gold consumption in the subcontinent during the current year compared to 17 per cent in the previous year.

Addressing a press conference, the WGC Indian Subcontinent Managing Director, Mr Sanjeev Agarwal, said the upcoming gold festivals would unlock the true potential of gold trade in the country.

He said the council was organising the Andhra Pradesh Gold Festival-2005, a 50-day annual event beginning October 10.

The WGC Indian Subcontinent Vice-President, Mr K. Shivaram, said the first-half sales this year have already stood at over 500 tonnes thanks to the buoyant economy compared to 800 tonnes last year.

WGC expects gold trade to gear up to meet the consumer frenzy in the festival season with the help of the Gold Festival, which will have 5 kg of gold as prizes.

ICICI Bank Credit Card is offering an additional half kg of gold to customers using their credit card to purchase gold jewellery during the Gold Festival.

ICICI Bank is offering a discount of five per cent on purchase of gold coins through its branches.

Against the current level of 3-5 per cent of credit card penetration in jewellery purchase, the bank expects the penetration levels to improve by at least another one per cent with its active participation in gold sales as well as financing to gold purchases.

According to Mr Shivaram, a State-based Gold Festival organised in Karnataka early this year recorded sales of 4.3 tonnes of gold. The upcoming festival in Andhra Pradesh is likely to record around 25 per cent more sales.

Buoyed by the response from the State-centric Gold Festivals, WGC plans to organise a Pan-India Gold Festival two years down the line.

Before that, it plans to organise the South Indian Gold Festival involving over 1,000 major jewellers from the four States, Mr Shivaram said.

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