Trends In India’s Gold Industry 2009

India has been one of the biggest markets for Gold be it in the form of jewelry, export and import and even Gold for Investment.

2009 as we all know was not one of the best markets for pretty much anything given the global economic slowdown. Hence, it is evident that the GOLD industry had its ups and downs too.

Here are  few trends which have shaped up India’s Gold Industry in 2009

• India's gold market is estimated to have more than 300,000 jewelers
• 2009 was the year when Gold was at its weakest.Record high prices and a failed monsoon cut imports by 33 percent from the previous year to 480 tonnes, against an annual range between 600 and 800 tonnes in the previous five years
• Imports are high partly because of the large population of about 1.2 billion
• Per capita gold consumption is only 0.7 grams, half that of the United States and one-third of the Middle East
• Only 23 banks and some private and government trading agencies have licenses to import gold because of its implications for foreign exchange flows
• Investment purchases of gold have been rising faster than jewelry purchases
• Adoption of Gold exchange-traded funds is rising.The total collection among seven fund houses is more than 11 tonnes, nearly double from a year ago

Given the high demand, GOLD imports have been high. A clear indication of the reduction in demand in 2009 is evident from the the amount of Gold imported by India

Based on the import projections, 2010 is turning out to be a better year in terms of GOLD demand given the increase in imports with respect to 2009

Source

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