Gold purchasing by jewellers drops despite upcoming wedding season

By

Isabelle Crossley

Published
Jan 6, 2022

Despite the upcoming wedding season, jewellers in India have reduced their gold purchasing by 25% in the past week amid a return to lockdown restrictions which could spell a new wave of cancelled weddings. 

The next Indian wedding season is scheduled to begin on January 15 and will continue into July. However, as Union territories including Delhi, Haryana, and Maharashtra begin to reintroduce Covid-19 measures including retail restrictions and night curfews, large gatherings could soon be further curtailed. This could lead to a postponement of weddings which would push back wedding jewellery demand so retailers are exercising caution in buying due to the uncertain landscape. 
 
Omicron cases rose significantly in the last week in India which caused jewellers to reduce their bullion buying, the All India Gem and Jewellery Domestic Council’s chairman Ashish Pethe told ET Bureau. This in-turn is expected to cause a drop in gold imports in January in comparison with December, 2021.  

“In the first two waves of Covid, the gold market was impacted badly and the jewellers suffered with their inventory in hand,” said Pethe. “But gradually, people have started living with it. Jewellers, too, have become cautious and they have reduced buying of the bullion as Covid cases are climbing up.”
 
The jewellery industry is already beginning to feel effects of the new wave of Covid-19 in India. The Gem and Jewellery Export Promotion Council announced on its website earlier in the week that it had taken the decision to postpone its international jewellery trade show India International Jewellery Show Signature scheduled for January and this will postpone any business opportunities which would have resulted from it.