Mumbai : India remained cautious on gold buying in 2015 as demand remained nearly flat at 848.9 tonnes compared to the previous year, according to the World Gold Council’s Gold Demand Trends report. The demand in 2014 was 828.5 tonnes, the report said. In 2015, gold demand was valued at Rs 2,02,910 crore as against Rs 2,05,750 crore in 2014.
“In India, gold demand for 2015 saw a marginal increase to 849 tonnes from 828 tonnes in 2014. In Q4, 2015 gold demand in grew by 6 per cent to 233 tonnes from 220 tonnes in the same period last year. Demand for gold has once again proven resilient in the face of a range of challenges, underlining the role of gold as an essential component of households’ savings and reinforcing the need to bring gold into the financial infrastructure,” WGC Managing Director India, Somasundaram PR told PTI here.
Refining, he said, is taking centre stage and it is time for the industry to look holistically and seek policy support to improve the infrastructure for gold, ensuring transparency and quality, both fundamental to making the gold schemes a success.
The bold approach exemplified by launching the gold schemes towards the end of 2015, should be carried through with a singular focus on making gold fungible for the average household through the banking system, he said. “The economy will benefit significantly by enabling anticipate that gold demand will be robust,” he added. Total gold jewellery demand in the country for 2015 was up by 5.26 per cent at 654.3 tonnes compared with 621.6 tonnes in 2014.
In value terms, jewellery demand in 2015 was Rs 1,56,395.35 crore, a marginal rise of 1.31 per cent from 2014 at Rs 1,54,368.37 crore. “The first half of 2015 was a difficult period for the industry. However, it recovered considerably in the second half with marriage and festival demand,” Somasundaram said.
Total investment demand during the year saw a decline of 5.94 per cent at 194.6 tonnes in comparison to 206.9 tonnes in 2014. In value terms, gold investment demand declined by 9.47 per cent at Rs 46,514.65 crore from Rs 51,381.63 crore last year. Total gold recycled in India also fell to 80.2 tonnes in 2015 as against 92.5 tonnes in 2014.
During Q4 2015, gold demand in India stood at 233.2 tonnes up by 6.14 per cent compared to overall Q4 demand for 2014 (219.7 tonnes).
Meanwhile, in Q4 2015, in value terms gold demand went up by 4.17 per cent at Rs 54,690 crore from Rs 52,500 crore in Q4 2014.
Total jewellery demand for Q4 2015 was up by 6.39 per cent at 173.1 tonnes compared to 162.7 tonnes in Q4 2014. The value of jewellery rise by 4.41 per cent to Rs 40,595.36 crore from Rs 38879.15 crore in the same period of 2014.
Total investment demand registered a rise by 5.79 per cent for Q4 2015 at 60.2 tonnes from 56.9 tonnes in Q4 2014. Total gold recycled in India in Q4 2015 was 20 tonnes compared to 22.5 tonnes in Q4 2014.
