Low cost ornaments fare well at Akshay Tritiya

MUMBAI: Jewellers citywide reported moderate sales of gold at Akshay Tritiya Wednesday. Low value coins and ornaments ranging from 1 gm to 5 gm fared well while high value inventory remained largely unsold.
The manager of a suburban store headquartered in Opera House said, "The rate of gold has spiralled beyond Rs 32,000 per 10 gm in the last two days, dampening consumer sentiment. A single gram costs Rs 3,100 where two days before it was less than Rs 3,000. We have not received the expected footfalls."

Heavy ornaments like bangles, necklaces and mangalsutra scarcely found buyers, except at a few shops like Waman Hari Pethe in Dadar whose manager Pradeep Madiye was pleased.

Large showrooms like PNG and Kalyan Jewellers were pleasantly surprised to see higher footfalls, right from the morning hours. They expected business to rise by 10-25% over Akshay Tritiya 2017.

Mid level goldsmiths like Harsh Jewellers in Zaveri Bazar, and Vikram Jewellers and Pendurkar, both in Dadar, said low cost items fared well. Vikram Vakadkar sold ornaments ranging from 1-3-5 gm while heavy items weighing 20-30 gm remained on the shelves. Pravin Pendurkar also said the weight of most items sold was in the single digits.

However, a dejected Kiran Jain of Riddhi Silver nearby said, "Gold always fares better on mahurat days. My silver store has sold only two items through the day. The bohni (inaugural sale) happened at 6.00pm, and each purchase was worth merely Rs 1,000 or so. Since two years we are finding it difficult to keep our head above water."

"Even those who have money are not spending. One customer who intended to buy a 5 gm coin finally purchased only 1 gm. Exams have ended two days ago so people are budgeting for vacation expenses as well," said Rakesh Porwal who owns two stores, New Gold Point and My Gold Point, in IC Colony Borivli.