TIRUCHI
While the soaring price of gold has not dampened the spirit of the affluent buyers, the poorer sections are keeping their fingers crossed as the yellow metal is seemingly going beyond their reach.
Gold price continues to surge for the past few weeks. Though the price of yellow metal is normally constantly on the rise except during some periods of volatility, traders are of the view that it is witnessing an exponential increase in the recent past. One gram of 22 carat gold (standard) was sold at ₹ 5,064 in Tiruchi bullion market on Wednesday. The rate was ₹ 5,317 per gram for pure gold as against ₹ 4,702 quoted on July 20 – an increase of ₹ 362 a gram within 10 days.
Although it was widely felt that the steep hike in prices of gold would keep away the customers from buying the yellow metal, particularly when the people of all walks of life have been severely hit by the lockdown and its cascading impact, industry sources however, said the business has not been affected.
There were about 180 to 200 jewellery showrooms in Tiruchi city and about 50 showrooms in Ariyalur. Nearly 10 showrooms in Tiruchi have been classified as large scale in terms of business volume. Almost all of them have branches in leading cities of the State as well.
While some traders say that business is as usual, there are traders, who say that the number of customers has gone up between 20 % and 30 %.
“The number of customers has gone up by 30% over the past few weeks. Most of them view gold as a best investment option. Constant increase in gold rate has motivated them to buy as much as possible,” says S. Mathan, proprietor, Pranav Jewellery, Tiruchi.
A General Manager of a leading jewellery mart in Tiruchi says that his showroom would receive an average of 300 to 320 potential buyers daily. The same trend continued. “Wedding collections are moving well. The customers, who have arranged marriage for their wards in 2021, show immense interest in buying ornaments before the gold rate goes up further,” he said.
While echoing the views of bullion traders in Tiruchi, N.K.B. Senthil, a gold trader in Ariyalur, said that the business was good. But, the steep increase had kept the poor and downtrodden gasping. The surging rate of gold and the impact of lockdown had made the task difficult for those arranged marriages for their wards to buy gold jewellery, he said.