Amid Covid cloud ‘Dhanteras’ brings back gold demand (Ld)

New Delhi, Nov 13 : The auspicious occasion of ‘Dhanteras’ in India has brought some relief to the jewellery market, which has largely been subdued amid the pandemic with poor demand.
Although demand witnessed a spike on Thursday and Friday post the recent subdued trend, the sales trend across the country varied with some places witnessing year-on-year rise and some others witnessing fall in sales compared to last year.
The India Bullion and Jewellers Association (IBJA) said that the sale of gold this year on the auspicious occasion of Dhanteras has been 30 per cent more than the previous year. People bought gold worth a staggering Rs 20,000 crore during the festival in 2020, it said.
Pankaj Arora, Chairman of the Gold and Jewelery Committee of the Confederation of All India Traders (CAIT), noted that the prices of gold and silver have increased significantly this year and those who invested in gold and silver last year have gained 30 per cent and 35 per cent, respectively.
He was of the view that gold and silver sales this Dhanteras are estimated to be higher compared to last year.
Bachhraj Bamalwa, a Kolkata-based jeweller and Chairman of the All India Gems and Jewellery Trade Federation, however, said that the sales were “good but due to Covid they were slower than expected.”