- Gold craze increased among Indians
The speed with which gold jewelery and leather craze is growing in India can be understood from the report of India Brand Equity Foundation (IBEF). It shows that the country produced 15.1 tonnes of gold in the financial year 2022-23, while its demand during the same period was 747 tonnes, or 50 times more than production. While China's demand for gold was 909 tonnes, which is only two and a half times more than its total production. The big thing is that considering India's population of 140 crores, the per capita gold demand was only 0.52 grams. Rick Kanda, managing director of Gold Bullion Company, said that it is a very good time for gold mining in the world. Gold mining is more environmentally friendly than other metals.
We have the 8th largest gold stock… India ranks 8th in the world in terms of gold stocks. RBI had 840.76 tonnes of gold as on September 30. America has 8,133 tons. Germany has 3,351 tons, Italy 2,451 tons, France 2,436 tons of gold.
Forecast of record rise in gold… According to Goldman Sachs, the price of gold may soon reach 3 thousand dollars per ounce. Currently it is 2,636 dollars per ounce.
European countries increased gold stocks Central banks in Eastern Europe are rapidly increasing their gold holdings. The main reason for this is the possibility of major instability in the world economy after Donald Trump becomes the US president. Central banks are buying gold to protect themselves from a possible fall in markets. Poland, which shares a border with Ukraine, had increased its gold stock to 420 tonnes by September, almost half of India's. This year, Hungary's central bank increased its gold stock by 10% to 110 tonnes and Serbia's to 48 tonnes. The Czech National Bank has set a target of buying 100 metric tonnes of gold in the next 3 years. This is three times as compared to 2022.
Image Credit: (Divya-Bhaskar): Images/graphics belong to (Divya-Bhaskar).
