Tuesday, 13 October 2020 | PNS | Dehradun
While most of the jewellers expect the possibility of a hike in the sale of gold jewellery in the festive season, some expect the sales to be dampened due to Covid-19 pandemic this year. As stated by a local jeweller Sanjay Arora, people tend to spend money on buying different things during Diwali but in the last few months, they have seen a severe financial crisis. Hence, instead of investing in things like cars, televisions or other types of machinery, people will think about investing their capital in assets like gold, stated Arora. Some also said that since people are not celebrating wedding functions lavishly, they are investing the saved money in more gold jewellery. “People have a certain budget to spend on pieces of gold jewellery for a wedding. Now those who had set money aside to spend on things like wedding halls, food or relatives have extra money due to restraints in wedding celebrations here. Thus the money they saved due to such restrictions is being spent on buying gold products as an investment,” informed the director of Mohanjee Jewellers, Nakul Kakkar. The owner of Samridhi Jewellers, Satish Kumar Saini also agreed that restrained wedding celebrations are allowing people to invest money from their wedding budget in gold. Moreover, he said that the business of gold has been picking up gradually in the recent months and the sale will certainly get better in this festive season.
On the other hand, the Dehradun president of Uttarakhand Swarnkar Sanyukt, Pankaj Masson stated that the jewellers are doing only 10 per cent of the business of the last year, so he is not sure about growth in the sale of gold during this festive season. “Considering the financial crisis in the last six to seven months, people are saving money for the hard times that they might have to face in future. Shopping of gold jewellery is a secondary interest of people and not a necessity that they will presently consider spending upon,” opined Masson. On the question whether the jewellers will give discounts or offers to attract more customers during Diwali this year, Masson said that they are hardly earning enough this year to pay their taxes so most of the jewellers will probably not be able to give huge discounts like in the past years. However, the jewellers added that this is the best time to buy gold as the prices are presently quite stable but there is a possibility of a hike in the prices of gold after the end of festivals.
