Gold loses its shine in India

Jewellers face hard times as India's buoyant gold market negotiates unprecedented trading conditions - Coronavirus has seen gold prices take off while suppressing sales in anxious customers.

With low footfall despite the national lockdown having long since ended, many businesses opt to remain closed.

India's leading gold market retailer, Mumbai's Zaveri Bazaar, is further suffering an absence of skilled gold workers, who left for their villages in the lockdown mass exodus and have not since returned.

And sky high gold prices are turning young lovers off traditional Indian wedding customs, resulting in a steep drop in jewellery purchases for the big day.

Those holding gold, whether jewellery or bars, are offering it as security on loans to bridge these desperate times.

Mr Somasundaram, managing director of Indian operations at the World Gold Council.

Somasundaram: "The growth will come back and once the growth comes back you will see that demand for gold also rises. It's also culturally something which we can't disassociate from the Indian traditions."

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