Gold demand plunges 36% in March quarter

A jewellery store in New Delhi, India. (File photo, source: Anindito Mukherjee/Bloomberg)

Gold seems to be losing lustre with the economic slowdown and the lockdown triggered by the coronavirus pandemic hitting the demand for the yellow metal. As a result, demand for gold fell 36 per cent to 101.9 tonnes during the January-March quarter of 2020 as compared to 159 tonnes in the same period of last year.

According to the World Gold Council, in value terms, gold demand value for the quarter was Rs 37,580 crore, a decline of 20 per cent in comparison with Rs 47,000 crore a year ago. Total jewellery demand in India for January-March period was down by 41 per cent at 73.9 tonnes as compared to 125.4 tonnes in the same period of last year.

The value of jewellery demand declined by 27 per cent to Rs 27,230 crore from Rs. 37,070 crore a year ago.

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Total investment demand for the January-March quarter was down by 17 per cent at 28.1 tonnes as compared to 33.6 tonnes a year ago.

However, in value terms, gold investment demand was Rs. 10,350 crore, a rise of 4 per cent from Rs 9,940 crore last year.