India’s gold demand up 8% in Mar qtr

While the RBI bought 16 tonne of gold in 2023; It already purchased 19 tonne in the first quarter of this calendar year. RBI has indicated that it would continue buying. The demand might slow down due to a sharp rally in gold prices and the ongoing election process

New Delhi: India’s gold demand rose eight per cent annually to 136.6 tonne in the March quarter helped by a strong economic environment despite prices touching historic highs, according to the World Gold Council.The aggressive gold buying by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) also contributed to the rise in demand. India’s gold demand in value terms rose 20 per cent on an annual basis to Rs75,470 crore during the January-March period of this year on volume growth as well as a rise in quarterly average prices by 11 per cent.

On Tuesday, the World Gold Council (WGC) released its global report ‘Gold Demand Trends Q1 2024’, showing that India’s total gold demand, including both jewellery and investment, increased to 136.6 tonne in January-March this year from 126.3 tonne in the year-ago period. Out of the total gold demand, the jewellery demand in India increased 4 per cent to 95.5 tonne from 91.9 tonne. The total investment demand (in the form of bar, coin among others) grew 19 per cent to 41.1 tonne from 34.4 tonne.

Sachin Jain, Regional CEO, India, WGC, said the rise in gold demand reaffirms Indians’ enduring relationship with gold.

“India’s continued strong macroeconomic environment was supportive for gold jewellery consumption even though prices reached a historic high in March leading to a slowdown in sales as the quarter ended,” he added. Jain expects the gold demand in India to be in the range of 700-800 tonne during this year. If the price rally continues, he said the demand could be at the lower end of this range. In 2023, the country’s gold demand was 747.5 tonne.

Asked about the factors driving demand growth in January-March, Jain told, “Historically, eastern markets of the world including India and China respond when the prices are going down and there is a fluctuation, whereas western markets respond when the prices are going up.For the first time we have seen a complete reversal where Indian and Chinese markets have responded to an increase in prices of gold,” he said. Jain said the demand for jewellery as well as investment products like bar, coin and ETF has gone up. “The second reason for the increase in demand has been the buying by the central bank RBI,” he said.

While the RBI bought 16 tonne of gold in the full 2023, it has already purchased 19 tonne in the first quarter of this calendar year, Jain highlighted. He mentioned that the RBI has indicated that it would continue buying. Asked about the outlook for the April-June quarter, Jain said the demand might slow down due to a sharp rally in gold prices and the ongoing election process.

As per the WGC data, India’s gold demand in value terms rose 20 per cent to Rs75,470 crore from Rs63,090 crore. Out of this, the jewellery demand grew 15 per cent to Rs52,750 crore from Rs45,890 crore, while gold investment demand went up 32 per cent to Rs22,720 crore from Rs17,200 crore.