Gold Demand Drops as Virus Shrinks Big, Fat Indian Weddings
- Consumption could recover in the second quarter: Trade group
- India’s gold sales may average 750 tons in 2022: Pethe
An employee arranges a gold necklace inside a jewelry store in Mumbai.
Photographer: Dhiraj Singh/BloombergThis article is for subscribers only.
Gold demand in the second-biggest buyer is taking another hit as a resurgence in virus cases is scaling down the size of traditionally large Indian weddings.
Marriages are a key source of gold demand in India and cases are spiking just as the country resumes a busy wedding season that begins from the second half of January and runs through April or May. From less than 10,000 new daily infections through most of last month, India reported more than 200,000 new cases on Thursday. That’s leading to increasing restrictions on mobility and the size of large gatherings as regional governments rush to contain infections.