Jewellers witness muted demand on day one post strike

Mumbai: Jewellers from Zaveri Bazaar, a major hub for jewellery industry, who opened their shops for the first time on Monday after a 21-day strike saw a muted response from buyers with footfalls nowhere near their expectations.

"We expected the demand to be very high as the shops were closed due to the strike. However, the footfalls are much less than our expectations," Kumar Jain of Umedmal Tilokchand Zaveri told.

The demand will definitely go up as the marriage and festival season is round the corner, which will boost sales, but we expect it to pick up gradually, he added.

Jewellers in India ended their three-week strike on Friday after assurance the government will consider scrapping a budget proposal to levy excise duty on unbranded jewellery.

Gold closed at Rs 27,985 per 10 grams, up by Rs 90, compared to the Saturday's close of Rs 27,895 in Mumbai. Jewellers across the country had gone on strike from March 17 to protest the budgetary proposals of levying Excise duty of 1 percent on unbranded precious jewellery and doubling the Customs duty on standard gold bars, gold coins and platinum to 4 per cent.

Bullion traders and jewellers called off the strike last week after meeting UPA Chairperson Sonia Gandhi and Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee, who assured them to look into their demands.

Bombay Bullion Association President Prithiviraj Kothari opined that the mooted demand is due to lack of liquidity in the market.

"The demand is slow because there is no liquidity in the market," he said.

City-based PM Shah Jewellers' Dinesh Jain said, "the response is positive and we are expecting 20 percent more footfalls as the wedding season is about to begin".

This trend is likely to continue till after 'Akshya Tritiya', considered an auspicious day to buy gold. However, Kolkata's Nemichand Bamalwa & Sons' Bachharaj Bamalwa said the demand there has been very high mostly in wedding related jewellery since they opened shops on Saturday.

"Looking at this trend we expect 15-20 per cent more demand than last year. As the wedding season are about to begin people are purchasing ready made jewellery as there is no time for bookings," Bamalwa, who is also the Chairman of All India Gems and Jewellers Trade Federation (GJF), said.