Published on December 15, 2020 by

Sales have gone up in the festive season after lockdown but are lower than what the jewellers expected. 

Kolkata: Jewellers predicted that the demand in Dhanteras will see the industry do 70% of last year’s business. However, owners now say, the sales are lower than what was expected. Sadhan Pal, owner of Matri Jewellers says that they have seen around 50 percent of last year’s sales.

The gold demand in the July-September quarter fell by 30 percent. The World Gold Council predicted a rise in retail jewelry sales in the festive season with most of the weddings also pushed to the last quarter due to the pandemic. The rise in sales, however, is a sigh of relief for the goldsmiths of the area. Surviving on loans due to no work during the lockdown, the goldsmiths now have seen an increase in the number of the assignments. Unfortunately, I was admitted to the hospital with Covid-19 during Dhanteras. However, I received many calls from the owners for assignments. Since the time I have rejoined, orders are coming in regularly,” said Shiboprasad Majumder, a goldsmith who works in Bowbazar.

With the wedding season still going on, the owners however don’t see the sales improving in the future. They believe that customers do not have the extra money that they invest in gold. According to Subhra Sarkar, a regular customer of gold, limited resources has seen her family struggle to keep up with the daily needs. “At this point, buying jewelry is impossible with literally no cash in hand,” she said.


According to Subhasish Kundu, a lecturer of Economics at the Seth Anandram Jaipuria College, the gold market and the Sensex are inversely proportional to each other. “BSE Sensex already crossed 45000 benchmark. Most of the people are investing their money in the share market,” he said. However, he feels that the Sensex will fall in the next six months and people will reinvest in the gold market.

Category Tag

Add your comment