New Delhi: Due to the Corona crisis, millions of people lost their jobs, the employment of crores of people was completely stalled. Amid uncertainty about control over the spread of Corona virus, people insisted on saving rather than spending. Due to this, the demand of most products in the whole world decreased. Gold also remained untouched by this reduced demand. Now, in the 2020 Gold Demand Trend Report of the World Gold Council (WCG), it has been said that during 2020, the gold demand across the world (Gold Demend) reached a low level for more than a decade. During this period, there was a decrease of more than one-third in gold demand in India.
Only 446 tonnes of gold remained in demand in India during 2020
According to the report of the World Gold Council, during 2020, the demand for gold in India recorded a tremendous decline of 35.34 percent. During this time there was a demand of 446.4 tonnes of gold in India, which was more than 690 tonnes in 2019. Gold prices touched record highs during August 2020 in India amid the Corona crisis. After this, its prices continued to fluctuate. Due to this also its demand in India remained low. However, at this time its price is going down by about 7,000 rupees from the high of August. In such a situation, an increase in its demand is now being expected.
Jewelery purchases reduced due to economic challenges
There is a lot of trend in India to buy jewelry on festivals or other auspicious occasions. Nevertheless, people kept away from shopping in view of the economic challenges created due to Corona crisis. In 2020, the demand for gold was recorded at 14 per cent by value. There was a demand for gold of Rs 1,88,280 crore in the country last year, Rs 2,17,770 crore in 2019. At the same time, there was a 42 percent decrease in the demand for jewelery according to the price. During this period there was a demand for 315.9 tonnes of jewelery, which was 544.6 tonnes in 2019.
Imports in India registered a huge drop of 47 percent
India ranks among the largest countries in the world in terms of gold imports. However, during the year 2020, there was also a huge decline in gold imports in the country and it was just 344 tonnes. On a year-on-year basis, India imported 47 percent less gold during 2020. At the same time, 646.8 tonnes of gold were imported into the country during 2019. However, after the situation became normal, in October-December 2020, 19 percent more gold was imported than in the last quarter of 2019. At the same time, there was a demand of 186.2 tonnes of gold in the fourth quarter of 2020. The worldwide demand for gold was 3759.6 tonnes during 2020, while in 2019 the figure was 4386.4 tonnes.
