Ashima Lahiri will say her wedding vows in December wearing fake earrings, necklaces and bangles that cost a tenth of the price of gold, breaking a millennia-old Indian tradition that brides wear the precious metal.
“Gold is too hot now,’’ says the 25-year-old fashion designer from Kolkata, eastern India, who’ll spend Rs 15,000 ($305) on her bridal set instead of 160,000 rupees for a real one. “You can’t touch it.’’
Lahiri’s not alone. Indian families, the world’s biggest buyers of gold, are cancelling purchases before the peak wedding season because prices have touched a record high in India, putting traditional bridal sets out of reach. That’s spurred sales of gold-plated, silver and brass gem-encrusted jewellery, designed to match the bride’s wedding saris.
“People are not willing to be victims of high gold prices and are instead going for glittering imitations,” said Roli Malhotra, head of marketing at Sia Lifestyles Pvt Ltd, a 24-outlet chain of fashion jewellery stores based in Mumbai. “Sales of imitation bridal sets are on the rise.”
Bullion, considered an investment haven, has weathered a global rout in commodities that has sent the Reuters/Jefferies CRB Index down 18 per cent this month, the biggest fall in at least 52 years.
In India, gold has gained 14 per cent this year, reversing a 6 per cent decline in the global spot rate, because a 20 per cent slump in the Indian rupee against the dollar to a record low has driven up the cost of importing the metal.
“It’s a double whammy for Indian buyers and retail demand has been a casualty,’’ said Bharath K Rekapalli, director of Global Financial Markets, a trading and research firm, in the southern Indian city of Hyderabad.
Demand traditionally spikes in the second-half of the year, spurred by Diwali, the Festival of Light, which is considered an auspicious time to buy the precious metal by India’s majority Hindu religion. Brides also buy more gold and relatives offer bridal sets as gifts for the trousseau as Indians prefer to get married in winter to avoid the monsoon rains and summer heat.
“Gold prices have put a cap on the number of sets I can buy for my daughter,” said Rekha Makhija, 52, who will buy two instead of three collections for her daughter’s wedding in January. “While I plan to give her a few of my jewellery sets, it will be nice to buy something fashionable and trendy.”
The yellow metal is considered the best gift by relatives because it insures the bridewhen leaves her family with her own property, said Ravi Jalan, director of New Delhi-based Jalan Commodities.
