Hyderabad: This Akshaya Tritiya, gold may not glitter

Hyderabad: The recent surge in gold prices, which is hovering around Rs 61,000 per 10 grams, is likely to dampen consumer demand this Akshaya Tritiya, with jewellers expecting a 20 per cent decline in sales in volume terms across the country while in Telangana Jewellers feel it could even be a dip of 30 percent.

During Akshaya Tritiya, 40 per cent of the business is done in the south, 25 per cent in the west, 20 per cent in the east and the remaining 15 per cent in the north. Similar views were echoed by former GJC chairman and NAC Jewellers (Chennai) Managing Director Anantha Padmanabhan who said that the ruling high gold prices will have an impact on demand this Akshaya Tritiya. "We are already seeing the impact of the sudden rise in gold prices," he said.

The jewellery shop owners feel that unless there was any short term softening of prices in gold on account of the strong cultural connect, the demand for jewellery cannot go up, G Dharam Raj Chaudhary, the co-owner of New DM Jewellers at Secunderabad. He said the period till April 27 is considered to be inauspicious. This had led to fall in sales. Added to this the high prices are keeping the customers away from buying the yellow metal. "Those customers who have compulsions like marriages may purchase gold but not others," he said.

K Siddharth, a techie said that every year he used to buy at least half a tola of gold on the occasion of Akshaya Tritiya but this time he had decided to wait for the prices to come down. He says it will not be a wise decision to purchase the gold at a time when the prices are so high. "There will be fluctuation in the prices in future, we will treat that day as Akshaya Tritiya," he said.