Wedding season boosts gold demand for jewellers and hopes of recovery

By

Isabelle Crossley

Published
Nov 29, 2021

As wedding season boosts gold jewellery demand across India, retailers have seen sales aided by a retreat in gold prices which echoed across major Asian jewellery hubs last week. 

As gold jewellery businesses prepare for an expected sales boom due to the winter wedding season, a drop in gold prices was a boon to sales in India as well as in Hong Kong, China, and Japan, the Economic Times reported. 

“Jewellers have been making purchases at lower levels as they are witnessing healthy retail demand for weddings,” a Mumbai-based bullion dealer at a private bank told Reuters. 

As India is the world's second biggest bullion consumer following China and the wedding seasons are the busiest times for gold jewellery retailers in the country, seasonal sales will have an impact beyond India reaching the global market at large. 
 
Gold demand had increased by 47% year-on-year in the July to September quarter, the World Gold Council announced. The increase was boosted by festive demand and an improvement in the severity of the pandemic in India. Following two years of low jewellery sales volumes, Crisil Ratings has estimated that the 2022 financial year will see gold jewellery retailers’ revenue increase by between 15% and 20% year-on-year, the Financial Express reported. 
 
Platinum sales have also increased over the festive season as the market continues to attract younger shoppers. “Q3 2021 has shown remarkable growth with retailers reporting sales in July- August to be even higher than October 2020,” Platinum Guild International managing director, Vaishali Banerjee, told Business Today.