■ According to the latest figures released by Ministry of Commerce and Industry, the country’s silver imports in the month of August 2024 jumped more than 7 times to Rs 11,038 cr as compared to Rs 1,317 crore in August 2023 

 

SILVER is shining these days asitspricehasconqueredanew high. On September 20, 2024, silverprices touchedanall time high of Rs 90,000 per kiloin the city. The gold and silver prices arerisingataphenomenalpace due to high festive and wedding demand across the country.Anothermajorcontributor to the strong rise in demand is theloweringof theimportduty on gold and silver to 6 per cent from the earlier 15 per cent by the Government. “Thesilverprices areexpected to touch Rs 1 lakh per kilo on the back of strong demand by Diwali,” said Rajesh Rokde, Director of Rokde Jewellers, Secretary of Nagpur Sarafa AssociationandViceChairman of All India Gem and Jewellery Domestic Council (GJC) while speaking to The Hitavada. Asa resultofloweringimport duty, the demand for gold and silver has accelerated in the country.

 

According to the latest figures released by the Ministry of Commerce and Industry, the country’s silver importsin themonthofAugust 2024jumpedmore than7 times toRs 11,038crore ascompared toRs1,317croreinAugust2023. Similarly, country’s gold importsin themonthofAugust 2024 rose by 103.71 per cent to Rs 84,401 crore as compared to Rs 40,883 crore in August 2023. Kishor Sheth, Director of Batukbhai and Sons Jewellers said that silver and gold prices are creating history due to strong demand in the international markets. It is seen that gold and silver prices tend to risewheninterestratesarelower. Also, the Government recently slashed the import duty on gold and silver to 6 per cent,compared toearlier15per cent.

 

“This has had a positive affect on the demand for gold and silver to surge,” he said. Currently, with reduced import duty the gold and silverpricesare thesameatDubai andMumbai.Loweringimport dutyhasincreased thedemand for the precious metals across the country. Lastweek,KishoreShethwas in Dubai and met a jeweller who operates 12 showrooms. In the discussions, Sheth was informed that the jewellery demand in Dubai had crashed by 70 per cent, due to lowering of import duty in India. People who were going of the country to buy silver and gold were now buying in the country itself, as there is no differenceinprices.

 

Currently, bringing gold and silver in to Indiahas become unviable, headded. Accordingly, silveris gainingimportanceasitiswidelybeingused in various industriesincluding electronic industryfor manufacturing components. Also, geopolitical tensionslike war and slowing global economy are some of the factors that attracts governmentsand people to buy gold. Other than this, it is estimated that there will be recordnumber of weddings of morethan 35lakh takingplacein thecountry thisyear.Withthis, thegrowthindemand forgoldjewellery is expected to be 25 percent higher, as compared tothe previous year, he said. (Note: The gold and silverprices are without GST andHallmarking charges).