Gold sales won’t shine this Ugadi and Gudi Padwa

By

Isabelle Crossley

Published
Mar 23, 2020

Gold jewellery sales this Ugadi and Gudi Padwa are expected to remain low, as some consumers stay home for fear of coronavirus and others find themselves quarantined. 

 
This year, Gudi Padwa and Ugadi celebrations will take place on March 25 to celebrate New Year’s Day for Hindus in a number of states.

Although gold is a common gift for the festival, sales are expected to remain down this year, ET Bureau reported. Ugadi, mainly celebrated in Karnataka, Telangana, and Andhra Pradesh and the festival is known as Gudi Padwa in Maharashtra.

“There is a massive slowdown in the entire market due to coronavirus and it has affected our sales too,” Gem Selections’ founder and managing director, Pankaj Khanna, told ET Bureau.

“As people are scared to come out to the retail shops to buy gold, we don't have much expectations from offline sales.”
 
Khanna expects for his business’ offline sales from the brand’s flagship store and network of over 300 dealers to drop by 80% this festival.

“We are trying to reach to our customers online during the important festival of Ugadi/Gudi Padwa to ensure they could indulge in the celebration of the festival in some way during these unfortunate times,” said Khanna.

“We are trying to manage the business online and are expecting our online sales to increase by 30%.”
 
In states where jewellers remain open, traffic is down and some states are starting to forcibly shut ‘non-essential’ shops in certain areas to keep crowds down.

On Monday evening, Kerala’s Chief Minister announced a statewide lockdown with criminal charges to be pressed against those who flout it and Maharashtra’s Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray announced a state-wide curfew.