Prices of Gold and Platinum are down in Akshaya Tritiya

(This entry was originally published in April 2009 and is based on the context of that time.)

Akshaya Tritiya is one day away and Indian jewelry traders are very much excited that they would see some profit in these tough times of economic recession. Though demand of gold has fallen significantly, Akshaya Tritiya accounts for 15% of the annual gold tradings in India. Akshaya Tritiya is one of the four auspicious days according to the Hindu religion calendar. The day is considered to be very auspicious for investments and buying long term assets like gold, diamond, cars etc. Hence, on this day, hundreds and thousands of people in India buys precious metals like gold, platinum and diamond. Unfortunately, prices of gold went record high in February and then recession and credit crunch further decreased the demand.

Now, the good thing is prices of gold has not fallen but prices of platinum has fallen. For this reason, many traders are expecting that a large number of people will buy platinum instead of gold in this year’s Akshaya Tritiya. Indian gold traders are now promoting platinum diamond jewelries. Princeson Jose, Price Jewellery said that last year the price of platinum was double than the gold but this year the price difference is 30%. During the Akshaya Tritiya of 2008 ( first week of May 2008) retail prices of one gram gold was around Rs. 1100 and prices of platinum was three times higher than gold; around Rs.3000 per gram. Current price of gold is Rs. 1350 per gram and platinum is Rs. 2200 per gram which is very much within the range of the consumers.

As a result, many buyers are now going after promoting platinum jewelries instead of yellow or white gold. Prapanna Kumar of Nathella Sampathu Chetty Jewellery Pvt Ltd., a reputed jewelry outlet in Chennai voiced the same opinion. Mr. Kumar said that though price of platinum, like the gold, went down in recent months, it is not as drastic as the gold. Platinum is also used by the automakers. Since the sales of automobiles around the world went down due to recession, prices of the metal went down a bit in the last one year which worked as a boon for Indian jewelry traders.

In order to push up platinum sales during Akshaya Tritiya, the Indian arm of Platinum Guild International are working with various gold retailers in India. Reputed jewelry traders of Southern India including Prince Jewellery, GRT, LKS gold house are promoting platinum jeweleries. However, jewelry traders admitted that Southern India is primarily a gold market.

Last week, famous jewelry retailer Gitanjali Group and MMTC started new retail jewelry chains named Shuddhi. The first Shuddhi store in Delhi has been opened up already and another one in Ahmedabad will be launched on the day of Akshaya Tritiya.

Related articles:

The Economic Times

NDTV

The Hindu BusinessLine