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Akshaya Tritiya proved auspicious for gold jewellers, retailers and wholesalers across the country as they witnessed an average 10-15 per cent jump in terms of volumes as compared to last year. Last year, about 17 tonnes of gold was sold pan-India on the same festival day, which is considered the second most important among Hindus after Dhanteras for gold investment.
Several retailers such as Shree Ganesh Jewellers (SGJL), Gitanjali, Muthoot, State-owned MMTC and bullion houses such as Ridhi Sidhi Bullion Limited (RSBL) did brisk business in the half-day as prices hovered around Rs 27,520 per ten grams for 24-carat gold. However, this year, the growth was in terms of volume instead of value growth. Most of the bullion houses sold more coins as compared to other channels such as jewellery and ETFs.
Kolkata-based SGJL’s Managing Director Umesh Parekh said that the company has already sold gold worth Rs 50 crore across its 44 outlets across the nation and expected sales to touch Rs 100 crore for the day.
Haresh Soni, Chairman, Gems and Jewellery Federation said that the overall market sentiment is quite buoyant and positive. The dip in the price of gold is bound to reflect in the per transaction quantum, he said.
According to P. R. Somasundaram, Managing Director of World Gold Council, “initial reports were very positive and there has been a surge in demand and footfalls this year on the back of steep fall in prices in the last few weeks. We also got reports of coins being sold more than other channels this time. India is a very unique market and people buy gold as not only a mode of investment but also for consumption. Millions of people do micro budgeting to buy on such occasions.”
Gold prices fell by Rs 180 to Rs 27,520 per ten grams today and the prices have fallen by 5 per cent since the last year’s Akshaya Tritiya day on April 26, when the gold rate was Rs 29,100 per ten grams. State-run MMTC also is eyeing sales of Rs 30 crore, a 50 per cent jump, as against last year.
Karan Vasa, Associate VP, RSBL, said that people were buying coins of smaller weight like one and two-gram as against 10 gm last year.
Online buzz
Online portals also did brisk business.
Sundeep Malhotra, Founder, HomeShop18.com said that as opposed to the popular notion, consumers are no longer shying away from buying gold online and this Akshaya Tritiya has seen much higher sales of yellow metal as compared to 2012.
“All we can say is that in half-a-day we have already sold double of what we sold last year during the entire day. We are expecting the sales of gold and silver to touch 3X as compared to last year,” Malhotra said
Sandeep Jain, VP Retail, Kama Jewellery said the company, which has both offline and online stores, recorded 25 per cent increase in sales this year.
Meanwhile, C. P. Krishnan of Geojit Comtrade said that despite Akshaya Tritiya, gold declined in the domestic market in tandem with the moves in the overseas market. MCX futures prices and NSEL spot prices edged down by nearly one per cent.
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