Senior Congress leader and chairman of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Finance M. Veerappa Moily will address the ASSOCHAM eighth International Gold Summit here on Wednesday.
Praveen Singhal, Joint Managing Director, MCX, Somasundaram P.R., Managing Director - India, World Gold Council (WGC), Sankar Sen, Chairman, National Council on Gems and Jewellery, S.C. Aggarwal, Chairman, Micro Finance Committee and D.S. Rawat, Secretary General, ASSOCHAM, will be the other speakers on the occasion.
Gold is an integral part of Indian society and a foundation of wealth and savings in India. India accounts for nearly one-third of the total world demand for gold.
The share of gold in total import bill of the country reached 9.6 per cent in 2010-11. Gem and jewellery sector accounted for 16.67 percent of India's total merchandise exports with the volume of exports pegged at US$ 43 bn. as on March 2011.
Indian households hold the largest stock of gold in the world at more than 21,000 tonnes. The country currently has one of the highest saving rates in the world, estimated at around 30 percent of total income, of which 10 percent already invested in gold.
The government has implemented hallmarking scheme to protect the consumer in purchasing gold jewellery of requisite purity, develop export competitiveness and make India a leading market for gold jewellery in the world.
India can be "A Global Player in Gold Market". However, for India to become a world trading superpower there is a need for greater involvement of trade and industry with the Government.
The summit assumes added significance in view of government's vigorous policy effort to turn "Make in India" into a reality.
Therefore, in order to discuss these aspects further with the objective of spreading better understanding of the gold industry as an appropriate investment avenue for wealth creation and also to address major issues of gold industry, ASSOCHAM is organizing the eighth International Gold Summit at 10.00 a.m. tomorrow.
There will be a large participation by the stakeholders, including the government, Reserve Bank of India (RBI), national and international bullion banks, bullion associations, commodity exchanges, security agencies and investors to name a few.
