For 27-year-old Priya Malhotra of south Delhi, her wedding was supposed to be one of the major milestones in her life. She had it all planned to the last detail, which, of course, included the giving, gifting and receiving of gold—without it, no Indian wedding is deemed complete. But the ceremony, scheduled for the end of May, was postponed after Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced a 15% import duty on gold in a bid to save the depreciating rupee, pushing prices past ₹75,000 per 10 grams.
"It's not about the money alone. Gold is not merely jewellery; it is inextricably tied to a family’s prestige, wealth, status,” Malhotra says.
Across India's ₹5-lakh-crore jewellery market — the world's second-largest consumer of gold — a 15% import duty is doing what years of financial literacy campaigns never could: making people hesitate before buying gold. Add to that the public appeal for austerity by the Prime Minister, asking citizens to cut gold imports to ease pressure on the current account deficit, it is a moment that is simultaneously economic policy and cultural disruption.
The response to the appeal
At GIVA's silver and gold store in Laxmi Nagar, the absence of customers shows the effects of the slump. Manager Pankaj Singh doesn't need a spreadsheet to confirm this.
"Footfall is down 50%. Since the tax went to 15%, quite a few of our customers have stopped buying gold."
He is candid about the reasons. "Some sections of the population have taken PM Modi's appeal, to not buy gold, quite seriously," he says. "Over the past weeks, the quantity of gold sold has reduced." GIVA sources its gold from Gujarat and Karnataka, and the extra GST layered on import duty has squeezed margins across the chain and is passed on to the customers.
The discount route
The sales of silver and diamonds have picked up. This pivot tells us where India's middle class currently stands: still wanting to mark occasions with gold, but not shying away from alternatives when prices go beyond budget.
At Manuel Malabar's South Extension store, marketing head Biju Varghese is fighting the slowdown the only way a retailer can. "We are giving discounts and removing charges on gold," he says. The making charges, which range between 4- 10% of the total cost, are being waived.
Varghese sees two kinds of customers. "People who want to buy gold will keep buying, regardless of price hikes," he says. "But Modi's austerity appeal has had its effect — that is a fact." The committed buyer hasn't disappeared. The casual buyer – the one who might have added a few grams ahead of a festival – has stopped coming. "The situation will continue until the ongoing war comes to an end," he adds, gesturing at the global volatility driving gold prices.
There is one category, however, that neither duty nor appeal can touch: the wedding buyer. "If people want gold for their wedding, they will buy real gold," says Singh. "Gold's prestige transcends cost for them."
Not everyone is moved by the call to abstain. Shashank Kumar, an IT professional in his thirties, has a blunt question for the Prime Minister. "If I stop buying gold for a year, will crude prices go down? Will the current account deficit be narrower?" He pauses. "This is just wishful thinking."
Going for less
Kumar's scepticism cuts to a structural truth. India's appetite for gold is not irrational sentiment — it is a rational response to decades of inflation and currency erosion. Gold is a hedge against inflation. Maybe less, but he will keep buying
Priya Malhotra's wedding has been postponed by a few months. She hopes the prices stabilise by then, even though she is not convinced. "Maybe we just decide the wedding matters more than the gold," she says, then catches herself. " But without the gold, none of it falls into place, after all, what's an Indian wedding without it?”
While the gold price hike may be a temporary setback, Indians have always adapted to geopolitical situations that have effects on domestic prices. But the duty has done something subtler than raise the price of a commodity. It has forced the public to sit up and create a distinction between buying gold for traditions or weddings and buying it as an investment. This conversation is playing across social strata.
The gold hasn't lost its shine. Not yet. But for the first time in a long time, people are squinting at it a little harder.