BHUBANESWAR: This Akshaya Trutiya has not been very auspicious for jewellers in Bhubaneswar. The attractive discounts and freebies, notwithstanding, sale of gold jewellery on the occasion went down by 60 per cent. And jewellers are blaming Fani for it.Unlike previous years when the jewellery shops were teeming with people who made sure to buy even one gram of gold considering the auspiciousness of the day, this time, shops were bereft of buyers who are struggling due to lack of water and power in the aftermath of cyclone Fani.
Till late in the evening, there was not much crowd in small jewellery outlets whereas the bigger brands got only a handful of buyers. This despite the fact that jewellers announced hefty discount on making charges of gold jewellery and at least 20 per cent discount on diamonds and platinum jewellery. On Tuesday, 10 grams of 22 carat gold sold at `32,000 while it was `34,900 for 10 grams of 24 carat gold. Gold prices have remained more or less the same in the last three years. Even with the marriage season underway, there was minimal demand for heavy bridal jewellery on the day.
Sources at Khimji Jewellers said there was a similar dip in gold sale volume three years back when gold jewellery prices shot up to `31,000 per 10 grams. They added that due to the massive destruction unleased by Fani, people are in no mood to buy jewellery now. Usually jewellery shops remained open till late night due to the festive rush in previous years, but this year, shops had to be closed by 10 pm due to lack of power and water supply.
“Sale of gold usually continued for a week from the day of Akshaya Trutiya. But this time, things are different. Water and power are the two primary things on people’s mind now, not gold. Till normalcy is restored, gold sales will not improve,” said a member of Lalchand Group. Similarly, sale of gold coins in banks was not encouraging.