The precious metals — gold and silver are shining bright these days as their prices have hit new highs on Wednesday. In a remarkable show of strength in bullion market, both gold and silver prices rallied to historic high levels in the Nagpur Sarafa Oli on the back of strong demand. For the first time in city, the gold price hit a historic high of Rs 80,200 per 10 gram. Similarly, silver price touched the Rs 1 lakh per kilogram (kg) milestone for the second time this year. Earlier, silver price had touched the Rs 1 lakh mark on October 24.

 

(Gold and silver prices are sans GST). “This festive season, people are showing keen interest in purchasing gold and silver jewellery items. With this buying frenzy, jewellers are more than happy with the overwhelming response they are getting although the prices of both the precious commodities are at high levels this festive season,” said Rajesh Rokde, Director of Rokde Jewellers, Secretary of Nagpur Sarafa Association and Vice-Chairman of All India Gem and Jewellery Domestic Council (GJC) while speaking to The Hitavada. Rokde highlighted that another factor for the strong rise in demand is the lowering of the import duty on gold to 6 per cent from the earlier 15 per cent, a reduction of 9 per cent by the Government. As a result, buying gold has become more attractive. With the domestic demand rising at a fast pace, gold imports had surged to 794 tonnes from April 1, 2023 to March 31, 2024. This year, the country had already imported 600 tonnes of gold in the first seven months from April 1, 2024. In the next 5 months the gold imports could cross 1,000 tonnes by March 31, 2025, he mentioned. Rokde anticipates the gold prices to touch Rs 1 lakh per 10 grams and silver at Rs 1.25 lakh on the heavy demand by March 31, 2025. Kishor Sheth, Director of Batukbhai and Sons Jewellers said that gold and silver prices are creating history due to robust demand in the market. “Although the gold and silver prices were at higher levels, we were surprised to see so many people spontaneously visiting our two shops and the spectacular response we got on the auspicious occasion of Dhanteras. This provided great confidence and assured us that the people still trust gold and silver as an asset of high value that can be cherished and handed down to future generations,” he pointed out. In the city market, gold was being quoted at Rs 82,600 per 10 grams, while silver was at Rs 103,000 per kg including Goods and Services Tax on Wednesday. Other prominent jewellery markets in the city like Dharampeth, Sadar, Itwari among other places were bustling with business activity.