Best printers for Home

Best Mixer Grinder

Best wired Earphones

Best 43 Inch TV in India

Best Wi Fi Routers

Best Home Theatre in India

Smart Watch under 5000

Best Laptops for Education

Best Laptop for Students

<ul><li>Gold prices are falling for the third consecutive week as the Indian economy recovers and the number of COVID-19 cases decline.</li><li>The diminishing value of the yellow metal is good news for customers looking to buy up gold ahead of the summer wedding season and <keyword id="126295" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="20" keywordseo="Akshaya-Tritiya">Akshaya Tritiya</keyword>.</li><li>Jewellers are optimistic that the fall in the price of gold and the upcoming festival season will drum up demand for the physical product.</li></ul>Gold prices are finally falling after a year of being on the rise. And, people in the world’s biggest market for gold, India, are taking advantage of the opportunity. Benchmark gold futures in the country have dropped 20% from a record high in August last year of ₹56,200. They are basically a deal to trade gold at terms decided now but with a settlement date in the future. Moreover, as compared to the beginning of 2021, gold prices are down by over ₹5,000 from highs of ₹48,500. This means the precious metal has technically entered bear territory. “Gold prices fell for the third consecutive week as risk on sentiments kept investors away from precious metals,” said HDFC Securities in its report dated March 8. For consumers, there couldn’t be better news with the summer wedding season just around the corner and Akshaya Tritiya — pegged as an auspicious day to buy gold — falling on May 14. Why is the price of gold falling? Simply put, consumers are no longer looking for a safe haven store of currency. During the coronavirus pandemic, the markets were volatile and rates offered by banks were sub par, giving gold the edge over others as a store of value. Now that the number of COVID-19 cases are slowing down and the economy is on the track to recovery, gold prices are coming back down. Investors are instead putting money into US government gold yields to earn higher returns. “Gold prices declined on a stronger dollar as traders and investors switched to the best alternative to gold.” noted HDFC Securities. As a result, the dollar index rose by 1.2%. Government officials told <a href="https://www.bloombergquint.com/global-economics/gold-s-slump-boosts-indian-buying-ahead-of-wedding-season">Bloomberg</a> that imports have jumped 41% in February to the highest that they’ve been since November 2019, which is another indicator of demand coming back. It’s time to buy up gold Last year may have been stellar to buy gold on the commodity exchange, but physical consumption was in the pits. According to the World Gold Council (WGC), the demand for jewellery plunged by 34% in 2020 as compared to the year before. Now, the demand for physical gold is seeing an uptick as prices dip to a near one-year low. It also helps that the Modi administration reduced import duty on the yellow metal from 12.5% to 7.5%. "GJC had been representing this concern for many years and we are glad that the government has acknowledged it and reduced the import duty," said chairman of All India Gem and Jewellery Domestic Council (GJC) in a statement. Lower prices, however, are only one part of the picture. In India, gold holds an important place in Indian weddings and the summer wedding season is set to occur between mid-April to May. Jewellers are also hoping that Akshaya Tritiya — the second-most auspicious day to buy gold for Hindus after Dhanteras — will also lead to a surge in demand. “The festival and wedding looks good. The investment demand has come back, and the jewelry demand will come in after the rates stabilize,” said Ashish Pethe, chairman of the All India Gem and Jewellery Domestic Council in a <a href="https://www.bloombergquint.com/global-economics/gold-s-slump-boosts-indian-buying-ahead-of-wedding-season">statement</a>. He believes that the demand will also see a boost since a lot of weddings that were postponed in 2020 due to the coronavirus pandemic will be scheduled for 2021. Brokerage HDFC Securities expects gold prices to remain low in the coming week, unlikely to dip below ₹44,000 per 10 grams. Analysts believe the rates of precious metal may continue to fall given the sharp recovery in economic activity and a slowdown in COVID-19 infections. However, gold could turn bullish again if central banks choose to step in. Sovereign debt for all countries has increased during the pandemic and the balance sheets are bloated in the face of public expenditure. “We do not think yield will sustainably rise given the fact that governments do not favour higher yields on their accumulated gigantic debt,” said the lead analyst of institutional equities at YES Securities, Hitesh Jain. Rising rates of yields — the interest rate that the government has to pay out for borrowing money from the market — is not favourable with high debt. SEE ALSO: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/tech/news/india-blockchain-tech-to-make-sms-more-secure-is-leaving-users-locked-out-of-their-account/articleshow/81409145.cms">India’s blockchain tech to make SMS more secure is leaving users locked out of their accounts — and potentially more at risk</a> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/india/news/india-is-using-the-quad-alliance-to-get-help-from-the-us-japan-and-australia-to-match-chinas-covid-19-vaccine-push/articleshow/81408044.cms">India is asking the QUAD for money to boost vaccine production and counter China’s moves on the global stage</a> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/business/corporates/news/elon-musks-net-worth-has-eroded-60-billion-in-just-two-months-as-teslas-market-cap-falls-35/articleshow/81407453.cms">Elon Musk’s wealth has eroded $60 billion in just two months as Tesla's market cap falls 35%</a>

Gold prices are falling and the world’s biggest market for the yellow metal is hoping for more shoppers

<ul><li>The usual fervor of the Big Fat Indian Summer weddings have given way to downsized miniature ceremonies this season. </li><li>However, consumers are investing the money they save from these small weddings in gold to secure their future. </li><li>On the back of these trends, <keyword id="1483203" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="Ramesh-Kalyanaraman">Ramesh Kalyanaraman</keyword>, Executive Director, <keyword id="413856" type="COMPANY" weightage="20" keywordseo="Kalyan-Jewellers">Kalyan Jewellers</keyword> is optimistic that the brand will be able to expand its customer basket size by 30%. </li><li>We caught up with Kalyanaraman to understand how intimate weddings emerging as a trend has affected the <keyword id="556004" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="jewellery-industry">jewellery industry</keyword>, various safety precautions it has taken across operational showrooms, and a lot more. </li></ul>The global pandemic hasn’t affected Indians' love for weddings and gold. They are coming up with out-of-the-box solutions, whether it is to organize weddings virtually and/or buy diamond studded or gold plated masks. Over the past three quarters, the value of gold has continued to accelerate. As a result, Kalyan Jewellers is now looking to increase its customer basket size by at least 30%. The brand also managed to close 10% of its annual <keyword id="126295" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="20" keywordseo="Akshaya-Tritiya">Akshaya Tritiya</keyword> business with a unique initiative that was tailor-made for quarantine. It launched a Gold Ownership Certificate which allowed customers to purchase and own gold on Akshaya Tritiya. The certificate could be redeemed against physical gold, in the form of jewellery or coins, on or before October 31, 2020. The brand is still witnessing ‘a steady stream of footfalls’ across its operational showrooms from consumers who bought the certificate. Looking at these trends, Kalyan Jewellers’ Executive Director, Ramesh Kalyanaraman, voiced his optimism for the recovery of the sector. He shared with us how intimate weddings emerging as a trend has affected the jewellery industry, various safety precautions it has taken across operational showrooms and why the brand decided to align its marketing monnies on digital to adjust to the volatile market. Excerpts: Q. Tell us a bit about your campaign #MuharatAtHome. What is the idea behind it? What are the challenges you are facing in conducting ad shoots considering the restrictions? Weddings have always brought people together. This year, with lockdown restrictions in place during peak wedding season, it was presumed that everyone would postpone their wedding plans, but we were pleasantly surprised to see that this wasn’t the case at all. We saw families trade grand ceremonies for intimate functions, ruled by minimalism, simplicity and personalization. It is this trend of intimate weddings that our #MuhuratAtHome campaign captures. For the ad campaign we opted for an ‘at-home’ shoot with limited cast and crew, following state specified shoot protocols. As this is going to be a Pan-India campaign with multiple iterations, it was shot in three cities, with three separate teams. In each of these locations, the advertising agencies involved, followed the guidelines issued by local authorities and recreated a home-like intimate wedding set up. Q. How difficult was the lockdown period for Kalyan Jewellers? Initially it felt strange, because this was the first time in all these years that all our showrooms were shut at the same time. After a week, we realised that we will need to make good of this time, and so we started using it more productively to strategize, realign priorities and plan our next steps. For the staff, we conducted online training sessions. We also did customer outreach more as a gesture than anything else. We were actively involved in many CSR initiatives, be it collaborating with our brand ambassador Amitabh Bachchan and Sony Pictures Network. During Akshaya Tritiya, at the request of regular customers, we launched the Gold Ownership Certificate which allowed customers to purchase and own gold on Akshaya Tritiya. The certificate could be redeemed for against physical gold, in the form of jewellery or coins, on or before October 31, 2020. To our surprise, this was very well received, and we managed to do close to 10% of our annual Akshaya Tritiya business with this initiative. Q. How are your preparations for unlocking going? What are the various safety precautions you have taken across operational showrooms? We have heightened the safety and hygiene measures across our operational showrooms to safeguard the health and safety of our patrons and the community at large. All customers are given temperate checks with handheld scanners at the entrance. Customers are required to use single-use glove in the showrooms, and this is made available to them upon entry. Masks are provided to anyone who is not wearing it already. Deep cleaning of showrooms is undertaken at regular intervals through the day, and all high touch point zones like counter tops, door knobs etc. are frequently sanitized. We feel that going forward, even when the lockdown is completely lifted, these hygiene practices will become the new normal. Q. How have you observed consumer behavior changing lately? And what are some of the consumer buying trends witnessed in regions where showrooms have reopened? Over the past three quarters, we have witnessed a surge in gold prices and the value of gold, as an asset, has continued to accelerate. It is the only asset that has proved to be a promising and safe investment option for consumers across the country. In line with this, we are looking at an increase in the customer basket size by at least 30%. Furthermore, with DIY or intimate weddings emerging as a trend, the wedding-related expenses on venue booking, catering, etc. have reduced and customers have more disposable income at their end, which is now being allocated to investing in gold jewellery. Additionally, shoppers who have postponed their weddings are making purchases as planned by availing our bridal lounge facility, for a personalized shopping experience. Currently, we are witnessing a steady stream of footfalls across our operational showrooms. A segment of those footfalls are customers who are reaping the benefits of pre-booking their gold jewellery or those who purchased the Gold Ownership Certificate this Akshaya Tritiya. Some are there to exchange their older gold for newer pieces. Looking at the current trend, we are fairly optimistic about the recovery of the sector. Q. What has your marketing strategy been during the lockdown? Did you modify your media mix, with marketing investments getting shifted from one medium to another? One of the biggest trends that has emerged out of the nationwide lockdown is the huge surge in screen time spent by Indians across digital platforms. In line with this, brands have begun to align their marketing budgets towards digital, social media &amp; OTT, especially when it comes to placing new content. In line with this, we introduced temporary changes to our media mix with a more digital-centric approach. For campaigns such as #MaaTuneSonaKaDilPaya (Mother’s Day), we leveraged crowdsourced photographs from our social media community wherein some of the best moments were handpicked to feature in a campaign video. Amitabh Bachchan was the voice of the campaign, and it was well received. The #MuhuratAtHome campaign is also a result of a similar online-only strategy. Q. We are sure the future of retail and jewellery industry will never be the same. How are you making sure you opt to digital media, online selling policies and physical distancing need to help your consumer? The unique aspect to the jewellery business is the concept of privacy while shopping which has always existed. Families come together and prefer to sit together, a little away from other families that are shopping. Kalyan Jewellers’ showrooms are therefore standalone showrooms, which are either mid-size, large format or flagship showrooms, designed to allow this unique shopping practice. Our counters are also demarcated as wedding, gemstone, diamond or daily wear jewellery – which is an added advantage during these times of social distancing. (Auspicious days like Akshaya Tritiya or Dhanteras are the only times when this rule doesn’t apply.) Additionally, as mentioned earlier we have launched appointment facilities for our bridal lounge services which can be availed by wedding shoppers for a personalized shopping experience. Q. Do you think this experience will change the way you market your brand in the future? The USP of the brand will remain the same, but the channels of marketing might change. Naturally, when you change the channel, the way you communicate the same brand USP will get amended. In the coming years, we intend to focus on targeted marketing campaigns. Q. The pandemic and the lockdown has brought with it a lot of learning. What are your major learnings from this experience so far? During the lockdown, we re-evaluated many aspects of our business, and realised that with careful planning, we can cut costs under various heads, without affecting the overall performance of the business. We intend to implement this learning even going forward. With showrooms spread across the country, our senior and mid-level management used to travel extensively. Now with the lockdown rules, travel has reduced significantly, and we are managing our operations remotely. This saves both money and time. Going forward, we plan to carefully rationalise travel needs. Our marketing campaigns have also evolved post the lockdown, and we are looking at targeting online campaigns instead of larger campaigns, and this is also working well for us. Another lesson for the future.

Indians are buying more gold from the money they would otherwise have spent on big fat weddings

Mumbai, Apr 21 () The coronavirus outbreak and the lockdown ahead of Akshaya Tritiya is a credit negative for the gold jewellery retail industry in the short term, according to Icra. Gold jewellery buying is considered auspicious during Akshaya Tritiya, which falls in the last week of April this year. Over the last two years, the domestic gold jewellery retail industry has been affected by factors like weak consumer demand amid slowing economic growth, rapid rise in gold prices and faltering rural output, regulatory policy interventions and cautious lending environment, Icra said in a report."Given this background, the widened outbreak of COVID-19 and subsequent lockdown, ahead of the critical Akshaya Tritiya season is a credit negative for the gold jewellery retail industry in the short-term," it added.The lockdown has resulted in closure of retail stores across the country. Besides there has been supply chain disruption with restriction on movement of non-essential goods, Icra added."As the stores are currently non-operational and recovery in demand is likely to be slow and gradual given that jewellery is a non-essential product and consumers typically defer their discretionary spends, jewellery retailers shall witness sharp moderation in footfalls over the next few months. Especially, sales during Akshaya Tritiya, which falls in the last week of April 2020, shall witness considerable impact," Icra Vice President K Srikumar said.In addition to industry revenues being impacted, relatively stable fixed costs in the form of employee payouts and rentals shall affect the earning profile of the retailers, he pointed out."Any invocation of force majeure clauses given the above adverse impact in the rental agreements remains to be seen. Nevertheless, over the long term, gold jewellery demand shall continue to benefit from the cultural underpinnings, evolving lifestyle, growing disposable income, favourable demographic dividend and the growing penetration of organised sector," he added. SM SHW ANUANU

Gold jewellery retail industry to be credit negative in short term due to lockdown: Icra

Mumbai, Mar 30 () The gems and jewellery exports are expected to witness a sharp decline in March as well as in the first quarter of the next fiscal due to disruptions caused by the Coronavirus outbreak, according to a report.An industry that is largely trade-oriented and attracts over over 5,000 exhibitors and 1,00,000 buyers at various trade fairs has witnessed a continuous decline in exports in all of the 11 months of FY20, with February 2020 being a major disappointment, CARE Ratings said in a report.A 41 per cent annual decline in cut and polished diamond exports led to a cumulative exports fall of 19 per cent year-on-year for the overall gems and jewellery industry in February 2020, it added.The gems and jewellery industry continued to face hurdles in the form of high custom duty on key commodities, continuous fall in exports and restrictions on the availability of bank credit and to add to this, recent outbreak of Covid-19 in top consuming markets including USA, Europe, China, Hong Kong and other south-east Asian nations has worsened the situation further for players operating in this industry, the report said."This has temporarily disrupted operations of all members in the value chain. Due to this, the exports of gems and jewellery from India are expected to witness sharp decline not only in March 2020, but also in Q1-FY21," it added.There could be heavy loss for domestic jewellery retailers as well, who were already distressed with lax demand due to escalated gold prices in the last few months and have now temporarily shut their stores due to the lockdown imposed in the country.Domestic retailers will face loss of revenue, stress on profitability and lengthening of operating cycles, which could further dampen their borrowing abilities in future, it added.The upcoming festivities of 'Akshaya Tritiya' may not offer much cheerful signs, as jewellery demand is expected to remain muted in the short term, the rating agency said.Short-term outlook for the gems and jewellery industry is negative, while long term prospects remain positive, owing to growing consciousness of branded jewellery, increasing purchasing power in tier II and III cities, increasing working women population and rising preference towards diamond jewellery, it added. SM SHW MKJMKJ

Gems, jewellery exports stare at steep fall in Q1 next fiscal: Report

New Delhi, May 11 () The challenging situation due to coronavirus pandemic will further push credit card transactions, a senior SBI Card official has said.He also said that now people will spend more to upgrade their homes as staying indoors is becoming inevitable."It is little early to say how the credit card industry is going to pan out. I have always been a big votary of digital payments. I think that opportunities will come back. Given whatever is the economic condition, I think transaction through credit cards will continue to see a rise," SBI Card MD and CEO Hardayal Prasad told in an interview.Assuming that the lockdown is removed in some places on May 17, the businesses will come back to normal to say about in 2-3 months, he added."After demonetisation, there was a big push towards the credit card industry, I think this (pandemic) is going to be even bigger than demonetisation."After demonetisation, cash was converted into digital (money/ transactions)...even if I get 5 per cent of that, that will be phenomenal. So, we are concentrating on what we can convert. Your cash spend can actually be your card spend. Now, if you are going to stay more time at home and you are not going out, you probably will look at more avenues also to make your house a better place," Prasad said.As people will stay more at home, they will vie for better products, may be a bigger televison set, a bigger fridge as they are not eating out and cooking at home, he added."So, we are looking at that kind of trend also to be emerging. People will feel that let's make home a better place, this is now my workplace and office as also this is the place where I live, so they will upgrade their homes if they are working (more) from homes," he said.Card spends towards travelling, staying at hotels, summer vacations, cinema and entertainment will be reduced, he said, adding the business is going to be a little challenging assuming things will get back to normal by October."Then there are lot of festivals also in between. In India, festivals play a major role in terms of spends. Looking at travel, I am told 60-80 per cent of their business happens during the summer, that will not happen now," said the CEO.However, he expressed confidence that some of the lost ground will be met as the big sales come up during winter festivals and new year.SBI Card is also looking at avenues such as co-branded cards where a lot of business proposition looks feasible, however, those with airlines will continue to see challenges for the time being.The company has co-branded card with the Apollo Hospitals group and hence people can get doctors' advice as well as pharmacy purchases online.Also, there is scope in the education sector as lot of people are now opting for online courses."Suddenly, there is massive uptick taking place in online education sector. Also, during Akshaya Tritiya, we also saw for the first time ever that there was almost Rs 5-6 crore purchase online on the jewellery side."If people are aware of the brand and products, they can do online purchases," Prasad said.SBI Cards and Payment Services Ltd, under the brand name SBI Card, has registered 28 per cent growth in credit cards to 1.05 crore in fiscal ended March 2020.SBI Card, promoted by the country's largest lender State Bank of India in a joint venture with the Carlyle Group, registered a jump of 44 per cent in its net profit to Rs 1,245 crore during 2019-20 as against Rs 865 crore in the preceding fiscal due to robust growth in cards number, spends and receivables.Improvement in cost to income ratio and fall in bad loan ratio to little over 2 per cent by March 31, 2020 also helped in posting good numbers.Recognising the unprecedented challenges in the economic situation due to COVID-19, the credit card company has created specific the virus related provision of Rs 489 crore.Prasad hoped that things may get back to track if companies move out from China to India alongside the government efforts to contain the economic fallout due to the pandemic."May be these can also propel the economy to rebound in a very strong way. So I think all these things have to be looked for some more time and to see what more the RBI and government can do so that the economy bounces back," Prasad said. KPM BALBAL

You Searched For "Akshaya Tritiya 2020" and got 5 results

Gold prices are falling and the world’s biggest market for the yellow metal is hoping for more shoppers

Prabhjote Gill

Indians are buying more gold from the money they would otherwise have spent on big fat weddings

Karuna Sharma

Gold jewellery retail industry to be credit negative in short term due to lockdown: Icra

PTI

Gems, jewellery exports stare at steep fall in Q1 next fiscal: Report

PTI

Pandemic to push credit card transactions further: SBI Card CEO

PTI

Popular Keywords

Buying Guides