Akshaya Tritiya falls this year on Saturday, 22 April — the earliest this Hindu and Jain festival celebrated from India to Nepal has come in five years. And for India’s beleaguered gold and jewellery industry, it couldn’t come sooner.
With gold prices at an all-time high, merchants of the precious yellow metal hope that the festival will provide a much-needed uptick to gold sales in the country. Akshaya Tritiya, which usually falls in May, is marked by buying gold and/or making property investments or starting new ventures.
Gold prices have been at an all-time high in recent weeks, with the market price for 10 gram 24-carat gold at Rs 62,065 in Delhi on Friday evening.
The price peaked at Rs 62,790 on April 5. The sky-high rates had seen regular customers thinking twice before putting down money on the precious metal.
The industry is pinning its hopes on Akshaya Tritiya sales.“Though the consistent increase in gold price has caused a temporary dip in discretionary gold purchases, we are encouraged by the Akshaya Tritiya advance booking,” said Ramesh Kalyanaraman, executive director - Kalyan Jewellers.
“Gold has always been a preferred saving option among Indians,” Kalyanaraman pointed out, while Isha Sapra, CEO & co-founder of Ausper, an automated platform for women to buy gold, added further perspective.“Gold has a very high significance in our culture, traditions, rituals, and belief systems. In fact, gold is believed to be ‘Ashta Lakshmi’, and buying gold on ‘Shubh Muhurats’ is believed to bring prosperity and auspiciousness into our homes.”
Other than lifetime milestones like weddings, India’s gold and jewellery industry depends on the shopping splurge of the Danteras-Diwali season as well as Akshaya Tritiya to shore up their bottom line. Trepidation is high whether high gold prices will play spoilsport this time around.
Interestingly, the singular objective of buying gold Akshaya Tritiya also seems to be diversifying, if trends from real estate players as well as the larger jewellery industry are to be believed “Since Akshaya Tritiya is believed to bring good luck, there has been a noticeable rise in real estate sales, with prices appreciating competitively,” said Sandeep Raheja, chairman, K.Raheja Realty.
Spurring this on has been freebies and discounts. “Fexible payment plans, reductions or waivers on maintenance and car parking fees for a time-bound period are important factors that play a significant role in turbocharging investments during festive seasons like Akshaya Tritiya,” said Amit Jain, director of Mahagun Group, another leading realty player.
Raheja, for example, is sweetening its deals by throwing in a free gold coin.“We are looking forward to outperforming sales numbers this Akshaya Tritiya,” said Raheja.
Kalyanaraman also pointed out how customers are moving beyond gold for Akshaya Tritiya. “Apart from yellow gold jewellery, we have been witnessing a notable uptick in consumer preferences towards alternative metals such as platinum, silver, rose gold and white gold as well as luxury products such as diamond jewellery pieces. This shift is fuelled by various factors such as minimalism, cultural trends and growing popularity of all-season jewellery.”