Press Trust of India
Mumbai, Feb 11: India remained cautious on gold buying in 2015 as demand remained nearly flat at 848.9 tonne compared to the previous year, according to the World Gold Council’s Gold Demand Trends report. The demand in 2014 was 828.5 tonne, the report said. In 2015, gold demand was valued at Rs 2,02,910 crore as against Rs 2,05,750 crore in 2014.
“In India, gold demand for 2015 saw a marginal increase to 849 tonne from 828 tonne in 2014. In Q4, 2015 gold demand grew by 6 per cent to 233 tonne from 220 tonne in the same period last year. Demand for gold has once again proven resilient in the face of a range of challenges, underlining the role of gold as an essential component of households’ savings and reinforcing the need to bring gold into the financial infrastructure,” WGC Managing Director India, Somasundaram PR said here.
Refining, he said, is taking centre stage and it is time for the industry to look holistically and seek policy support to improve the infrastructure for gold, ensuring transparency and quality, both fundamental to making the gold schemes a success. The bold approach exemplified by launching the gold schemes towards the end of 2015, should be carried through with a singular focus on making gold fungible for the average household through the banking system, he said. “The economy will benefit significantly as gold demand will be robust,” he added.
Total gold jewellery demand in the country for 2015 was up by 5.26 per cent at 654.3 tonne compared with 621.6 tonne in 2014. In value terms, jewellery demand in 2015 was Rs 1,56,395.35 crore, a marginal rise of 1.31 per cent from 2014 at Rs 1,54,368.37 crore. “The first half of 2015 was a difficult period for the industry. However, it recovered considerably in the second half with marriage and festival demand,” Somasundaram said.
Meanwhile, global gold demand also remained flat at 4,212 tonne compared to the previous year, according to the World Gold Council’s Gold Demand Trends report. The overall global demand during 2014 stood at 4,226 tonne, the WGC report said. It said despite a challenging start to the year, gold demand rebounded in the second half of 2015, as a result of sustained buying from central banks and a strong second half from China and India.
This was evident in the retail investment sector, where bar and coin purchases were led by China and Europe, with strong support from the US as investors took advantage of weaker prices amid a softening economic backdrop, financial turbulence and ongoing geopolitical tension, the report said.
