Sales of gold jewellery on Akshay Tritiya, on Tuesday, are expected to jump by 25-30 percent compared last year on this festival day, traders body CAIT said today.
Akshya Tritiya is considered an auspicious day for buying gold, silver and other metals. "The jewellery trade is expecting an increase of about 25-30 percent in sales this year in comparison to sales made last year on Akshya Tritiya," Confederation of All India Traders (CAIT) said in a release.
Sharing similar views, World Gold Council (WGC) India Managing Director Somasundaram PR said in a separate release that buying behaviour is returning to "normalcy" following easing of import restrictions.
"Gold is therefore set to start shining more brightly this Akshaya Tritiya." "We believe the immediate outlook remains strong and the long term fundamentals of the gold market remain intact. ...Not withstanding unseasonal rains impacting the rural economy this season, gold demand is expected to be strong in 2015 on the back of a resilient economy surging ahead with higher growth," he said.
CAIT National President B C Bhartia said most of the sale in gold is expected of smaller value items such as gold rings, coins, chains, bangles and others.
Many people have booked gold items with jewellers for delivery on Akshya Tritiya. Sales are expected to rise as there is a "positive" buying sentiment this year with gold prices ruling stable at around 26,400 per 10 grams, he added.
"It is also expected that Gold Monetisation policy announced by the Finance Minister in the Union Budget may also prompt buyers to purchase gold tomorrow and later monetise it with banks," Bhartia said.
Last year, jewellery sales remained low on the day of Akshya Tritiya due to high gold prices of about Rs 30,000 per ten grams, restricting buyers, CAIT said. India's gold imports surged 93.86 percent year-on-year to USD 4.98 billion in March 2015 due to declining prices and easing of restrictions by the RBI, as against USD 2.57 billion in the same month in 2014.
India is the world's largest consumer of gold and the precious metal is the second-largest imported item for the country after petroleum.
Higher gold import bill adversely impacts the country's current account deficit (CAD) and the government has been repeatedly asking people to desist from buying gold and instead invest in other saving instruments.
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