Few shoppers for jewellery as gold prices high

Thanks to the price of gold reaching an all-time high as of now, the jewellery shops witnessed substantially lower footfall — and sales — on the occasion of Akshaya Tritiya this year.

As per market sources, the residents preferred to buy utensils, kitchenware and other household articles instead of gold and silver ornaments on Akshaya Tritiya, which is considered an auspicious occasion for buying new things.

“Most of the customers were not in a position to purchase ornaments this time as the price of gold and silver are quite high these days. Moreover, many people have recently paid the school fees of their children and made mandatory savings/investments due to the closure of the financial year and beginning of the new academic session,” observed

Hemant Bakshi, a traders’ leader who also owns a jewellery showroom in Rohtak.

Neeraj Verma, who runs a jewellery shop in Sector 2, said there was a drastic decline in the sale of gold articles on this Akshaya Tritiya.

“The sale of gold articles remained only 10-20 per cent as compared to the sale achieved last year. Most of the customers preferred to buy silver articles or very light gold ornaments just for shagun,” stated Verma.

Meanwhile, the buyers maintain that there is no point in buying jewellery, especially gold, at the extremely high price which seems all set to breach the unprecedented height of Rs 1 lakh per 10 grams.

“Wearing gold jewellery has become highly risky these days. Hence, instead of purchasing ornaments, which are doomed to be kept in bank lockers, we purchased some useful utensils and other household articles which bring us satisfaction and joy and also make our day-to-day life easier,” remarked Kusum Gupta, a housewife.