Indian banks have started exploring opportunities in the space, including lending to crypto exchanges, and accepting bitcoins as collateral, among others.
Experts recommend buying gold as the fundamentals supporting a rally have not changed.
Any shift in investor sentiment may result in speculators fleeing the gold market, driving its price down sharply, quickly. One significant risk for gold is a near-term reversal in the dollar, which recently fell to a two-year low.
Those interested in investing in gold have shifted to instruments, such as sovereign gold bonds and gold ETFs. Many others are, in fact, selling gold or using it as collateral to generate short-term liquidity.
The all-time high price of silver is Rs 75,000 a kg, recorded in April 2011.
The government has sold SGBs worth Rs 1,990 crore in April and May alone.
Silver has been quoting at a premium in India since mid-March because of huge scarcity.
It plans to use it as collateral, along with forex reserves, to print currency.
Gold and silver became costlier in the country following the international price rise over the expectations of negative interest rates in the US, the rising trade tensions between the US and China and the weakening of the rupee.
Industry estimates over 30 tonnes of gold were sold on Akshaya Tritiya this time.
The month of March could be worst in many years, with imports estimated only around 18 tonnes amid the coronavirus pandemic and the nationwide lockdown, said an industry player. The import in March 2019 was 72.5 tonnes, according to the GFMS data.
Nilesh Veera, director of APMC said, complained that availability of workers is a big problem. They have asked the government to provide enough sanitizers, masks, etc, for worker safety, to call them back. There has been no reply.
Gold price in Mumbai's physical market on Friday fell 31.1 per cent or Rs 1,351 to close at Rs 41,848 per 10 gramme. Friday's fall in per cent terms is worst after November 2015 and, in absolute terms, the worst after August 2013. Silver prices fell Rs 2,255 to close 5 per cent lower at Rs 43,085 per kg on Friday.
The RBI is still a small player in international gold buying among central banks. But in terms of total gold bought in 2019, it is the sixth largest buyer with 25.2 tonnes purchases in the first 10 months of 2019.
A WGC survey says that there is no dearth of gold demand, but there is lack of trust among prospective gold buyers, not only in India but globally.
'India can afford more debt at this juncture.' 'India's fiscal deficit is still manageable.'
The worsening demand for jewellery has already started impacting jobs and karigars or goldsmiths.
The industry alleges the government has been apathetic, despite their pleas for quick action. However, H2 may be different as The US-China trade war had opened a window for Indian exporters to ship more to America.
As gold prices turn prohibitive, traders fear a drop of as much as 50% in sales over the previous season.
This is good news for the central government at a time when crude oil prices are rising.
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